A new family member
by brfanficwriter
Summary: Harry makes a wish to the wind, and who would have thought that his prayers would be answered? Harry finds himself on an alternate universe where both his father and mother are alive, and he still have a brother to make things better (even though said brother is himself)
1. A new family member

Privet number 4, cupboard under the stairs. A small bloodied boy silently cries himself to sleep.

' _Uncle Vernon hit me harder than ever. I think he broke some of my ribs'_ a sob escapes the boy's mouth, and he quickly tries to hide it. _'If he hears me cry, he might come back for more.'_ After a few tense moments, the boy let himself relax _'Why is it me that has to suffer like this? It's not my fault my parents died when I was a baby. I wish I had a family like Ron's. I wish my parents didn't choose Sirius Black as their secret keeper. I wish they were here. Why me? Why me?'_

The boy kept on silently cursing himself until he blacked out. From that day on, the Boy-who-lived became unaccounted for, and wizards and witches from the whole world haven't heard about him since.

* * *

Godric's hollow, second floor, Harry Potter's room. A blinding light shone through the middle of the room, so bright and warm one might think a sun was in there. The light shone for a fraction of a second, and where it once shone lay a slumbering boy.

Harry felt the movement as though he was being levitated. That brief, soft moment was enough to wake the boy's mind. He started to feel his bruises, and felt around his soft mattress for his glasses... _'Wait a minute... soft?!'_ The realization that he wasn't on his cupboard, but rather in an unknown place was enough to clear the 11 years old's fuzzy mind. With his wand at hand, the boy started searching the room for a clue as to where he was. The room was obviously a wizard boy's room with all those moving quidditch posters _'The Griffin Cannons, huh... That's Ron's favorite quidditch team if I remember it right.'_ Harry didn't find any clue of where he is in the room, so he set to exploring the other rooms of the house. The door next to the room he was previously in led into a study, and from the end of the hallway Harry could hear snores. When he realised he was not alone _(a kid can dream, right? )_ Harry sped up on his search, and went downstairs. What he didn't know was that the fourth step creacked -loudly. The snores from the room at the end of the hallway stopped, and Harry could hear a door opening and footsteps coming his way, so once he located what he was hoping was the front door he made a run for it, even though his ribs were protesting by now, but his captor appeared at the top of the stairs, wand at the ready. Once he recognized Harry, he let up on his fighting stance.

"Harry? What are you doing up at this hour? " the stranger asked, and then realization dawned on him, and his face got a stern tone to it "Young man, don't tell me you were planning on sneaking out! " the man said as he made his way to Harry.

Harry was dumbfounded by the man's act, _almost as if he was my father_. But Harry knew that wasn't the case, and with a quick flick of his wand, Harry shouted "Stupefy!" and the impact of the spell sent the man flying across the room, with a loud bang that echoed throughout the house.

A woman upstairs heard the noise and came running downstairs, worried about her husband.

"James! For Merlin's sake, James! Are you alright? What happened?! " asked the frantic woman as she cast healing spells here and there on the older man, even though the most serious injury he had was a minor concussion "Harry James Potter! How dare you raise your wand at your father! " said the irate woman once she noticed the boy in the room.

"That man is not my father! My father died when I was a baby along with my mother! " yelled the boy with tears welling up in the corners of his eyes "You people selfishly talk about them, and don't even think about how me and the people who miss them feel! So shut up! " the boy screamed as tears flowed freely across his face.

"What? Harry, baby, what are you talking about? We're right here in front of you." stated the confused woman as she approached Harry

"Don't move! Stay away from me!" said the boy pointing his wand to her.

"Baby, I just want to help you. Please." Tears started making their way across the woman's face

"Prongslet, would you feel better if we called Sirius here so you can talk to him? " the man, James, asked Harry as he stood up beside his wife

"Don't say that man's name in front of me! "

"Ok, so you don't want Sirius. How about Dumbledore then? " the man tried again

"Professor Dumbledore?" James nodded "Can you call him?" another nod "Ok. Please call Dumbledore."

The man made his way to the fireplace, and grabbed a powder from a pot on it. Harry stiffened. "What are you doing?" Asked the boy

"Relax, I'm just grabbing the floo powder" _'Floo powder? What is it?'_

James threw the floo powder in the fireplace, and said "Dumbledore's quarters", and the fire turned green. James stuck his head in the fireplace, and Harry jumped of surprise. _'Is that man crazy?!'_ But as he seemed fine, Harry relaxed. James seemed to be having a conversation with someone in the fireplace, and when his head popped out from the fireplace, Dumbledore followed right after.

"Harry, my boy. Your father has informed me of your state. " said the older man with a twinkle in his eyes. "Would you like to-"

"No! Not you too, professor! Is this some kind of plot from Voldemort? "

Seeing the certain in the child's eyes, Dumbledore started to see the situation in a whole new light.

"Calm down, child. I can see it in you that you are sure these people are not your parents, and I have a hunch as to the reason. With your permission, may I take a look at your memories? "

The boy nodded, and let Dumbledore inside of his mind. The older man saw everything. Years of abuse from the Dursleys, the happiness that came when he first saw Hogwarts, the fight against the troll, the adventure in going after the philosopher's stone, the feeling of loneliness he felt while in the cupboard under the stairs, and the most shocking of all: the murder of the very two people that were standing right behind Dumbledore.

"I understand it now, child." he said to Harry "Harry, are you familiar with the theory of alternate universes?" the boy shook his head "Long story short, it is a theory that explains that there are multiple realities happening at the same time. You come from a reality where both your parents died when you were an infant, and this is a reality where no such thing happened. Are you still with me? " a nod "What I'm trying to say, my boy, is that these people are your parents, and you are their son." Dumbledore said gesturing to James and Lily Potter

As he said that, new tears welled up in Harry's eyes, and James and Lily moved to hug him, but when they touched the boy, Harry winced of pain.

"Harry, what's wrong? Do you feel pain anywhere? " James asked concerned and Harry's face blanched

"N-no, sir. I-i'm fine." The child said while trembling

"I'm afraid that's not the case." Dumbledore sighed "Apparently, the me from Harry's reality did the horrible mistake of giving Harry to your sister and her husband, Lily." The older man said with an apologetic expression on his face "Harry was heavily abused by them."

"What! How could you! "Lily roared as she made her way to heal Harry "Why are the healing spells not working? " she asked confused

"No! Don't heal. Healing is bad. If it heals fast, uncle Vernon will come back and hit me more! " Harry said while inching away from the others with a terrified expression on his face

"Harry, bud, healing is not wrong. We don't want to see you hurt. "James calmed the child as Lily broke into a crying fit

"I am going to call madam Pomfrey and see if she can do something about this situation. " said Albus as he made his way to the fireplace

"It's okay, Lils. I'm going to make it all okay. " James whispered comforting words in his wife's ear, but the words sounded more like they were said to reassure himself

A few moments later, Madame Pomfrey stood in the living room performing diagnosis spells on Harry. She tsked as she read the diagnosis, and shook her head.

"I'm afraid Harry's injuries cannot be healed by spells, as his magic core adamantly refuses to let the spells take effect" Madame Pomfrey said with a concerned tone in her voice "However, we can speed up the healing process with potions, " she quickly stated once she saw both parents' expressions " and I'm also going to prescribe some nutritional and some antidepressant potions for Harry."

'Antidepressants?'

"I am going to start the treatment now." Madame Pomfrey said as she handed Harry a vial with a brownish thick substance on it "This potion is a pain inhibitor" she explained once she saw the look of utter disgust on the child's face. Harry took a tentative sip, but spat out the gross tasted substance, and tried to put back the vial. "None of that, drink it all up, please. It's for your own good." She said handing back the vial, but Harry just shook his head

"Harry, please, take the potion." James pleaded with his son, but Harry was very intent on not taking the gross thing. "What is it wrong with the potion? "

"It's gross" Harry opened his mouth to say, but his father cast a paralyzing spell on him and forced him to swallow the thick gross stuff

"Sorry, cub, drink it all up, you'll feel better afterwards." James clamped his hand on Harry's mouth until he was sure the boy had swallowed the potion

"Good lad, now you only have five more potions to drink and you'll be done for this round. " Poppy said as she handed Harry the next vial

After much begging, pleading, bribing and deceiving, James and Lily managed to make Harry take all his potions.

"Very well then, with this we are finished with this round of potions. Lily, I am going to leave some potion vials along with the instructions. The pain inhibitor potion is to be taken once every twelve hours, the bone mending potion is to be taken once every six hours, the skin mending potion is to be taken once every four hours, the antidepressant potion is to be taken once a day, the bruises healing potion is to be taken once every six hours, the concussion healing potion is to be taken once every twelve hours, the infection healing potion is to be taken once every eight hours, the nutritional potion is to be taken before every meal, and the dreamless potion is to be taken before you go to bed." Madame Pomfrey listed as Lily and James nodded making sure to remember every detail "Well, with this I am going to excuse myself, once the potions run out, come to the school's medical wing and I will give you some more. Good night." Said Poppy as she made her way to the fireplace

"Thank you, Poppy." Both James and Lily said to the mediwitch

"Don't mind it, dears. Healing children is my job after all. " said Madame Pomfrey with a smile

"Albus, if this Harry is not the Harry we raised, then where is our Harry? " Lily asked concerned as James carded his hand through Harry's hair

Just as Lily finished her question, the floo roared to life and none other than Harry James Potter stepped in the living room. Once he saw both his parents, he had such a deer in the headlights expression which would be funny if it were not four in the morning and both his parents didn't know where he were.

"Uh oh. " said the Harry from this reality

"Uh oh indeed mister. Just where were you? " Lily demanded with a stern look and crossed arms

"... manor... " the Harry from this reality mumbled

"Excuse me, but we don't speak mumble. Care to repeat?"

"Black manor. " repeated 'Harry' with a guilty expression

"You went to Black manor?! And what do we say about going there? " demanded James careful not to scream as to not wake up the other Harry

"Not to-" 'Harry' started, but then he noticed himself beside his father "Dad, who is that? " he asked shell shocked

"He's you from another reality." James explained, but 'Harry' didn't seem to understand "Look, I don't know the details myself, but he's been through a lot, and he'll be living with us from now on. Think of him as a brother of sorts. "

"So I just got a younger brother? Wicked! " 'Harry' exclaimed excited "So now we are just like Fred and George! That gives us a whole lot new pranking possibilities!" 'Harry' ranted on with a smile on his face, and Lily and James stood proud of the son they raised.

"Don't get too excited about pranking, mister. You become anything like Fred and George and I assure you there'll be trouble. " Lily rained on his parade

"Well, seeing as you have already made up your mind on the matter, I am going to start with the papers so that Harry officially becomes part of this family. " Dumbledore said as he went to the fireplace, ruffling 'Harry's hair on the way

"Wait a sec, wouldn't it be weird to have two Harry James Potter? " 'Harry' asked

"Now that you say it... " Lily said

"But we shouldn't change Harry's name without him being present, so we should wait for tomorrow. " James stated

"There's no need for that. We just change the order. I become James Harry Potter, and Harry here stays Harry James Potter. Since I'm older it just makes sense for me to have dad's name first. "

"Are you sure of that, son? " asked James with a smile on his face

"Yeah, so call me Jim from now on, alright. " Jim answered with a smile of his own

"Ok then, Jim. "

"Now that all's settled, I shall retire myself for the night. Please do try to get any sleep. " said Dumbledore as he exited through the floo

"Well, I'm going to take Harry to his room then. " said James as he carried Harry to the guest bedroom on the second floor. "And don't think you're out of the hook about you little adventure, young man. We'll have much to talk about in the morning. " he said turning to Jim who at least had the decency of looking sheepish

As Jim laid in bed starting at his bedroom's roof wich was bewitched to look like the night sky, he couldn't stop thinking about how much his life changed in just a few hours. From what he heard from Ron, siblings are supposed to be annoying, but he didn't think it would be like that with his.

"A brother, huh? This will be awesome. "


	2. Healing Harry

The next morning, a fuzzy headed Harry Potter woke up at 6 a.m. He was in a room he didn't remember ever being in, and his body was aching again. The pain inhibitor potion was starting to lose its effects, but Harry thought he still was at his aunt's house, so he got up to start making breakfast. _'If I don't hurry up I'll be late with the breakfast and uncle Vernon will have to punish me again. After what happened yesterday, I better not get on his bad side.'_ Today, though, the boy didn't mind waking up early, because he had a really good night of sleep, the best he might have had his whole life, one without nightmares, and might have even been a good dream, if you forget about the gross drinks parts. _'I'm never going to drink stuff like that in my life. If it was that bad on a dream, imagine in real life!'_ Harry shuddered just from remembering the taste.

As he tried to find his way to the kitchen, Harry couldn't help but remember the house from his dream. _'Did we move away again? I guess uncle Vernon hit my head harder than I thought if I don't remember moving away. It's pointless though, because I'm sure Hogwarts will find a way to contact me again.'_ Harry finished his thoughts with a smile. He then found out where is the kitchen and started to make breakfast. _'I'm going to make pancakes. If I'm lucky enough there might even be some scrapes left for me to eat.'_

Upstairs, James woke up to the wonderful smell of pancakes.

"Ugh, it's too early to wake up. I only slept what, 2 hours?!" James groaned as he looked at his bedside clock "Lily, let me sleep, pleeeeease" James stretched out the word like a whining child

"I'm not doing anything. Maybe it's Jim trying to bribe his way out of trouble with food." Lily said chuckling, and a fond smile at their son's new name

"If that's his plan, he might just make it." James took a long sniff as Lily giggled

"Make what? "

"JIM?! If you're here, and I'm here, and Lily's here, then who's cooking? "

"HARRY! " the three said in unison, and darted to the kitchen

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, said Harry Potter heard his name being shouted by three different people, and stiffened. As he did it, though, the bowl of batter he was holding slipped from his finger and crashed to the ground, making a mess of batter. As he bent down to clean it up, his ribs and broken arm protested, and he collapsed, taking with him a couple of plates that were in the counter. Even then he still tried to clean up the mess, cutting himself and making even more of a bloodied mess than ever. When he started to notice the mess he was making, his eyes welled up with tears, a few making their way out. _'What do I do now? Now uncle Vernon's going to hit me for sure! I don't think I'll make it if he does.'_ Then Harry saw the only good option he had: run. He managed to balance himself on his legs, and started to make his way to the kitchen backdoor. When he was almost at the door, though, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and started to scream and wrestle whoever it was.

"HARRY! Calm down, it's me! " he heard the voice of the man in his dreams "Take deep breaths." The man said but Harry was having difficulties to hear him, and only then did he notice he was hyperventilating. "With me, Harry. In, and out. In, and out. "The man said as he rested Harry's head on his chest, and Harry's breath started to even out with the man's.

"Is he alright? " he heard himself ask, but he didn't remember asking

"Yes, he will be. Help your brother get cleaned up, please. I'm going to help your mother clean up the kitchen. "

"Ok." The boy said "Come on, Harry. " Harry felt weird, as if he was floating away.

"Do you want to take a bath or a shower?" The boy asked, but Harry made no move to answer "Ok, a shower then. It's quicker." The boy added as if he thought Harry needed to be given an explanation.

After he showered Harry and helped him into new clothes, Jim sat Harry on his bed. It was weird to think that even though they were supposed to be the same person, Jim's clothes looked really baggy on Harry, and said boy was so thin Jim could have carried him in his arms if he wanted. Although, Jim has always been a heavy eater, and was the catcher of Gryffindor's quidditch team even as a first year. Harry looked like he had been barely fed, and his back- Merlin, his back. It looked like he was attacked by a hippogriff, with all those scars, and even some new bruises that were still bleeding. Harry's back was a multicolored blue, purple, yellow mess, with only a few spots in his skin color.

"Harry, I'm not good with healing spells, so I'm going to have to do this the old muggle way. I'm going to go fetch the first aid kit, and I need you to stay here, alright? " he said the last part as he walked out. By this point it's not like he even expected an answer from the boy anymore

When Jim came back with the first aid kit, Harry hadn't even moved an inch. Jim got out the antiseptic spray, and said to Harry "This is going to sting a little, so you have to bear with it.". When he sprayed the cut on Harry's arms, the boy barely winced. _'It's not that surprising if you imagine what he might have already gone through.'_ Jim thought sadly as he bandaged his arms and torso.

"Let's get back down to the kitchen. Can you walk by yourself?" Harry nodded _'Now that's what I call a development'_

When they returned to the kitchen, James and Lily had already finished cleaning up the kitchen. James was sitting by the table reading the daily prophet, and Lily had started to make breakfast from scratch.

Jim took a seat at the table, and Harry went to help Lily, but she adamantly refused his help.

"Go have a seat, darling. I'm almost finished with breakfast anyways." Lily said smiling to Harry, but he could se the redness on her eyes. _' She'd been crying. Is it because I ruined her breakfast? Now that I won't work I won't be able to eat. I wish at least today I could eat.'_

James stood up to fetch Harry's potions, but that gave the boy a whole different idea. _'He's going to send me away.'_ Harry thought

The boy dejectedly sat down at the table, and quietly tried to brush away the few stray tears that escaped his eyes. _' If they see me crying, they might tell my aunt and uncle, and I don't know what they would do then.'_

Jim noticed the boy's crying, though "Harry, what's wrong? Are you hurting anywhere?" Asked the concerned older brother, but Harry only shook his head in response and cried harder

James returned to the kitchen and noticed the commotion. Soon he was by his youngest side. James, being a legilimans, had the idea of seeing inside the boy's head, but decided on asking his permission first.

"Harry, son, would you let me see inside your head so I can figure out what's wrong? " at seeing the child's wide eyed scared expression, James quickly added "I promise I'm only going to se what you want to say but can't." To this the boy nodded his head

James put both hands on the side of Harry's head and he could see what the child was thinking.

"Oh, Prongslet, you know we would never ever send you away, don't you? " Harry shook his head. "Merlin, what can I do to make you believe me?" James sighed to himself as he placed Harry on his lap "Look at me, Harry. Whatever those people did to you, it was wrong. I don't know what they did or told you, but you are not a freak. You are very loved. Your mother, your brother and I love so so much, we would never send you away. You are never ever seeing those people again. You're safe now. Your mother and I would move mountains to protect you. I can't force you to believe me, but I wish you would. Honestly, I want to go to your dimension and hex that whale and the horse faced lady so much! And your Dumbledore as well!" James added in the end, to which Lily gasped in horror of him saying such things in front of the children, and Jim started laughing, and to their surprise, Harry laughed as well.

"Ok, now that all's solved, let's have some breakfast! I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving! " said Jim, to which Lily rolled her eyes

"Tell me one time when you're not hungry. " she said while playfully ruffling Jim's hair

"When I'm sleeping, of course! " he answered, and Harry giggled

"Sorry to rain on your parade, Harry, but you have to take your potions." James said, and Harry shook his head with such vigor that one would think his head would separate from his neck "Come on, Harry, you have to take them." The boy shook his head again

"No! It's gross! " the boy argued ( _whined_ )

James was about to argue back, when Jim cut him to it. "Leave it, dad. If Harry's too much of a baby to take his potions, we can't do anything about it. "

James turned to glare at his oldest son, and Harry scowled at his big brother "I'm not a baby!"

"Oh, really? Then prove it by taking your potions."

"But it's gross! " Harry argued ( _whined_ ) back

"Baby! "

"Am not! "

"Are too! "

"Am not! "

"Then prove it! Drink the potion! "

"I'll show you who's the baby! " Harry said as he downed the gross skin mending potion and the nutritional potion, which surprisingly was sweet and not gross at all. When he finished both vials, he rushed to get water as James and Jim had a silent conversation.

 _'How?'_ James mouthed, to which Jim just smirked in answer.

When Lily finished setting up the dishes her three boys were already seated. James and Jim advanced on their food like savages, and Harry only nibbled on his.

"What's wrong, Harry? Do you not like the food? " Lily asked

"No, it's delicious. It's just that it is too much food. "

"But you put just a bit of food in your plate... If you are full you don't have to force yourself though, okay? "

James looked up from his food to both his children, and remembered something he had wanted to discuss with the boy's.

"Harry, Jim, once you two are finished, please wait for me in my study. I want to discuss some things with you two. " as he noticed Jim's pale face, he chuckled softly before adding "Relax, it's not that kind of discussion. " he chuckled a bit more at the boy's relieved sigh

At the study, the twins waited for their father to finish helping with the dishes before coming up. Harry was looking around the room with awe, and Jim watched him intently.

"This is dad's quidditch trophy. He was considered the catcher of the decade in his time, but I'm going to beat him to it. "

"Jim, you play as a catcher? "

"You play quidditch too? " a nod "Which position? "

"Seeker. "

"Seeker? That's wicked! Do you play in the school team as well? " another nod "You must be amazing on a broom then! " Jim exclaimed excited and the two boys went on a cheerful conversation about quidditch

When James entered the study, he was pleased to se both his boys chatting about quidditch. They were so engrossed in their conversation they didn't even noticed him. James cleared his throat to get the boys' attention.

"Boys, I called you two here so we can discuss the house rules." James stated and Jim groaned

"But daaaad, I already know the rules! " Jim whined

"And that didn't stop you from breaking them, right? " that shut up any possible argument from coming up. "There are four ground rules: obedience, you listen to what me and your mother tell you, and don't go against it; honesty, You. Do. Not. Lie. To. Us. I'll know it when you are lying and it will be uglier than if you didn't lie about it. Omit also counts as lying; respect, you don't cuss, mouth off or have an attitude with me or your mother or any adult for that matter"

"Even aunt Petunia? "Asked Jim with (fake) innocent eyes

"Well horse face's a different case, but don't tell your mother I said that. The fourth and most important ground rule is: don't put your life at risk. If you know there's something dangerous, go call an adult for help. Other rules are: bedtime is at 22:30, you have to do your homework, no fooling around with your wands, no magic inside the house, no flying after 18:30, no fighting. Also, don't go anywhere near Black manor. Harry, this rule applies mainly to you: don't cook without someone near you, and also don't do any heavy household work. Leave those to me. Any questions?"

"Um, what will happen if we break the rules? " Harry asked uncomfortably

"Right. For lying and disrespect a mouth wash will do the trick. Mostly I will ground, take a privilege or have you write an essay. For minor things, a time out, and if it's a major rule breaking, I might spank you." To that Harry paled. "Don't worry, you will never suffer the same treatment you got at the Dursleys. You will never feel hunger or be hurt by my hands. I need you to trust me on that." Harry nodded "Okay, Harry, you can go. I have to talk with your brother." Harry nodded and left the room "Okay now, troublemaker. This is the second time you go to the Black manor, so I want you to write an essay on why disobeying me is bad and one on why I don't want you to go there. You're also grounded from your broom for a week. Next time you know what to expect, don't you?"

"Yes, sir! " Jim said with a mock salute

"Cheeky" James said while ruffling Jim's hair

"Hey, dad, have you seen Harry's back? "

"No. Why? "

"It's awful, dad. It looks like one of those things you expect to see only on movies. You know, when I think it could have been me the one who suffered so much, it chills me to the bone. What kind of monstrous fate hates him so much that he has to stand so much? " Jim said with a sad face

"Hey, hush child. He has us now, we'll make sure he's happy now. " James said while hugging his eldest child


	3. Sirius Black

**A/N:** In this AU, Harry has heard the story about the day his parents were murdered just like everyone else, that Sirius Black was the real secret keeper, and so Harry blames Sirius for his parents deaths and consequently for his whole misery.

* * *

Jim and Harry were in the kitchen, Jim was writing his essays, and Harry was keeping him company.

"You don't need to be here if you don't want to, Harry. " Jim said without looking up from his work

"I want to keep you company. "

"But you have to rest. "

"No! I want to be around you!"

"Ok, let's go to the living room so you can lay on the couch. " Jim said getting up with a sigh and Harry followed him

"Hey, Jim, why does dad doesn't want us to go to Black manor? " Harry asked after a few moments of silence

"He never tells me the details, but it seems there is something dangerous no one's supposed to know about in there. " Jim said looking at his twin

"I wonder what is it... "

"It's what I'm planning on finding out. " Jim said going back to his work

"Are you planning on going back there?! " Harry exclaimed wide eyed

"Well, of course. I can't find out what it is if I'm here. "

"I want to go too! " Harry said excited at the thought of an adventure

"No. You would just get in the way. " Jim said cooly

"What do you mean by that! I know every spell you know, maybe even more! " Harry argued angry at being underestimated

"Oh, really? Let me tell you that dad is the Defence Against Dark Arts teacher at school and he has been teaching me spells ever since I was eight! And besides, even if you knew that many spells, you are hurt and are too weak and small! " Jim hoped his arguments would get the idea of going to Black manor out of his brother's head. Even Jim himself knew it was a bad idea to go there, even if his father wasn't against it.

"I'm not like this because I want to! " Harry sais with tears in the corners of his eyes. He was hurt about what his brother had just said about him, and stomped up to his room.

"Hey! Harry! " Jim called after his brother. It wasn't his intention to hurt Harry's feeling, and so he was feeling really guilty.

"What is going on? " James said from the yard when he heard the commotion

"I said some bad things to Harry. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt his feelings. " Jim said with a guilty face

"Well, then, what are you waiting for? Go after him. " James said with a sigh and went back to mowing the lawn

Jim got up and took the stairs two at a time. He stopped at his brother's room door, took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Nothing. "Harry? " he knocked again.

"Go away! " Harry shouted muffledly and Jim winced. Harry was really angry at him and Jim contemplated the idea of really going away, but he steeled his resolve when he remembered his brother's hurt eyes _'If I don't do this now, I will never do it.'_

"Harry, I'm coming in. " he said twisting the doorknob, and found Harry lying on his stomach in his bed.

"No! Go away! " Harry shouted into his pillow

Jim took a seat in Harry's bed, and petted his head. Harry didn't make a move to stop him, and Jim smiled sadly. _'He's really small'_

"Look, I'm sorry about what I said. "

"I'm not like this because I want to." Harry said again

"I know. I'm sorry. Honestly. "

"When I was at the Dursleys', they wouldn't feed me. Sometimes all I would get to eat was scrapes from their meals, and then I didn't get anything else to eat for days after. If i didn't work I couldn't eat, and there were times I would be so hungry I would search for food in their thrash, or I would pass out from hunger. " Harry started crying somewhere around the middle, and Jim had tears pouring out of his eyes at the end of the story

"Dear Merlin. I'm so sorry Harry. I would never say those things to you if I had known about this. "Jim sobbed out as he gathered his brother in his arms

"I wish I had my parents with me. " Harry cried out

"You have us now Harry. We are not going anywhere and I'll say it to you every day if it's what it takes for you to believe it. " Harry nodded

"Have you ever told someone? About what happened at the Dursleys'? " Jim asked once he and Harry had calmed down, and Harry shook his head "You can talk to me if you want. I'm you, after all. " Jim said with a smile

"I don't think I can. Not without breaking down. "

"Well, once you feel you're ready, you can talk to me anytime. "

"Ok. "

The twins stayed that way for a few moments, until they both realised they were still holding each other, and separated themselves awkwardly.

"I'm going to head downstairs and finish my essays before dad or mom come yell at me. " Jim said standing up with a smirk

"Ok. " Harry replied with a smile of his own

Jim was almost done with his first essay when the floo roared to life and Sirius Black stepped out of the floo.

"Hey Prongslet! " Sirius greeted Jim with his arms open for a hug

"Uncle Sirius!" Jim said excited and went to hug his godfather

"Padfoot! What brings you here to our humble residence?" James said from the front door

"Well, I came here to tell you that Prongslet here didn't get too far in to the manor so you have some mercy when you go murder him." Sirius said while still hugging Jim

"You are a bit too late for that. I have already murdered him as you can see. " James nodded towards Jim's half finished essay with a smirk

"What! Then that means I'm hugging a ghost? " Sirius said feigning surprise and James rolled his eyes. "But Prongslet, even as a ghost, you're still fat! " Sirius said while picking up Jim and spinning him around the room

"It's not fat, it's muscle! Besides, isn't it you who are getting old, huh, Uncle Sirius? " Jim said while trying to control his laughter

"Why, you cocky little thing! " Sirius said while givin Jim a noogie

"Stop! Uncle Sirius! "

"Not until you say uncle. "

"No! " Jim said laughing

"Come on! Say it"

"Okay! Uncle! Uncle! " Jim said giving up

"Alright. I'm feeling merciful today so I'm letting you go. "

"Padfoot. There's something I want to tell you. " James said once Sirius and Jim composed themselves

"What? "

James told Sirius the events of that evening and from the morning, trying to give him as much details as he could.

"Dimensional travel, huh? That's a new one for me. But why is it that he became so angry once you said my name? " Sirius wondered aloud

"I honestly don't know. Maybe you're dead in his world and it was such a shock for him? He did seem quite angry when he thought we were taking about his parents before he realised they were us." James said the only plausible explanation he could think of

"Where is he now? " Sirius asked

"In his room, I think. "

"Ok, then. Call him here. " Sirius said

"You think it's a good idea? " James asked worried

"There's no better time to find out things than the present, right? "

With a sigh, James stood up and walked to the stairs "Harry, come here please. " he called from the stairs

"Yes, sir? " Harry said from the top of the stairs, and James winced at being called sir. 'Now's not the time for that.' he thought

"There's someone I want you to see. "

"Ok. " Harry said and started to slowly make his way downstairs. The pain inhibitor potion was no longer making any effect, and it wouldn't be time for him to take another dose for a few hours. When he got to the living room, there was a man he had never seen before. He had long black hair that reached his shoulders, and wore jeans and a black turtleneck shirt. "Who is he? " Harry asked while trying to hide himself behind his father.

 _' He doesn't know Sirius?'_ James wasn't expecting that, but he quickly composed himself. "Harry, this is Sirius Black. " he said, waiting for the worst. Whatever he was waiting for, he didn't expect Harry to shoot a spell at Sirius and charge at him, and neither did Sirius, as he couldn't even reach for his wand to defend himself.

"SIRIUS BLACK! " Harry shouted as he charged at Sirius, but James held him back

"Harry! What are you doing! Apologize to Sirius right now young man, or you'll find yourself in a world of trouble. " James threatened. Whatever it was going on with Harry and Sirius, it isn't reason for him to act like this

"It's all his fault! " Harry said while crying

"What are you talking about? What did Sirius do? "

"It's his fault my parents died! It's his fault I had to suffer so much! It's all his fault! " Harry said as he fought to get of James's grip

"Harry, I'm not understanding. Please explain to me. "

"You and mom chose Sirius as your secret keeper, but this bastard betrayed you! He sold you to Voldemort. "

"Whatch your language! I don't know how things went in your dimension, but in here we changed the secret keeper without telling anyone. The real traitor is Peter Pettigrew. He sold us to Voldemort in exchange of a high position in his army, and Voldemort destroyed our other hideout, but thankfully Sirius was with us at the time and so we managed to chase him out before he killed anyone."

Harry became shell-shocked at this information. Sirius wasn't the traitor? Voldemort is alive? His parents died because someone he'd never heard about wanted to join Voldemort's army? Harry could feel the bile going up his throat as flashes from the day his parents were murdered and of his encounter with Voldemort in the philosopher stone's chamber came to his mind. He tried to run to the bathroom, but James had a strong grip on his arms and so he emptied his stomach on the living room.

"Merlin, Harry! I'm sorry, I thought you were going to run, I-I didn't know... " James started, but when he noticed Harry wasn't done he carried him to the bathroom and patted his back until he was done.

"Is he alright? " Jim asked from the doorway "You didn't know, dad. It's not your fault. "

"But I should have known! I'm his bloody father, for Merlin's sake! " James shouted at Jim, but quickly composed himself "I'm sorry, son. I didn't mean to yell at you. Don't repeat what I said. I'm going to go clean the living room. " he said getting out of the bathroom.

Jim took a fluffy handtowel from the towel cabinet, wet it on the sink and started to rub the back of Harry's neck with it.

"Relax, it will help you. " he said when Harry tried to get away from him "Just concentrate on taking deep breaths. "

Harry closed his eyes and worked on relaxing himself, and slowly he stopped churning.

"Here, drink this. " Jim said handing Harry a bottle of something

"No potions." Harry said weakly

"It's ginger ale. It will help your stomach. " Jim said chuckling

"Oh. " Harry said and downed the bottle

"Let's get back to the living room. " Jim said holding out a hand for his brother, but Harry just shook his head "What's wrong? " he asked concerned

"He hates me. " Harry said while looking down

"Who? Uncle Sirius? I think he understands why you act-"

"No! Not him. Dad. "

"Oh. He doesn't hates you Harry. He's not even angry at you. He's just angry at himself. You know, dad knows what I'm about to do before I even think about it, but with you it's quite the opposite. He's scared of doing something and hurting you, and we never know what you're thinking about. I guess he thinks he's failing as a father with you. "

"That's not true! He's the best adult I've ever known! "

"He won't know unless you tell him, Harry. "

Meanwhile, when James went to the living room to clean up the floor, he found Sirius stretched out on the couch and the floor was already clean

"Gotta give you that, kid's have a mean punch. "Sirius said while sitting up straight clutching his torso

"Yeah, he does. " James said and Sirius burst out laughing "What's so funny? "

"B-because, the kid's only eleven and he's already taken out both the DADA teacher at Hogwarts and the head auror of the ministry of magic." Sirius said trying to control his laughter and James burst out laughing along with him

"You better watch out for yourself or he might take your job from you. " James said laughing uncontrollably

"Hey, have a bit of empathy for your best friend, would you! " Sirius said feigning hurt

"He's a good kid, Sirius."

"I know. "

"I don't know what to do about him, though. "

"What else can you do besides raise and love him? "

"I'm scared. He's been hurt by so many adults in his life already, and he's only eleven. What if I hurt him just like the others, and he never trusts me again. Just like now. "

"You can't know everything, James. "

"But I have to! I'm his father! "

"Yes, you are his father, but that doesn't mean you won't screw up. No matter how hurt he is, or how scared you are, you have to be there for him. Damn it James, the only way you could prevent those boys from being completely harmed is if you wrapped them in bubble plastic and locked them away in Gringotts. "

"I've been seriously thinking about that. "

"But you won't. There will come a time where you'll be hurt, and Harry or Jim are going to be hurt. There might even come a day where you will hurt them, but what parent doesn't make mistakes sometimes? "

"Wow Padfoot. Never thought I would live to see the day you would become serious. " James said amazed

"But that's my name! "

"Forget I said anything. " James said rolling his eyes as Sirius silently laughed about his own joke

It was that moment Jim and Harry walked into the room, and Harry flung himself at his father's arms.

"Whoa, Harry. What's wrong? " James said surprised

"You're not failing me, dad! You and mom are the best adults I've ever known! " Harry sobbed out on his father's neck

James stared wide eyed at the weeping child in his arms, and quickly worked out to calming him down, as Sirius looked at him with a 'told you so' face. James rolled his eyes while still smiling

"Thanks. " he said to Harry, but both adults in the room knew it wasn't just for him


	4. Diagon alley

"Let me introduce myself again. I'm Sirius Black, your godfather, or at least Jim's godfather. I don't know how things are where you came from."

"You're my godfather in my dimension too, that's what Professor Dumbledore told me." Harry said, suddenly feeling shy, "I'm sorry I hit you."

"No problem pup, I would have acted that way too if I was in your position." Sirius said with a smile.

"Boys, I'm home. Oh, hey Sirius." Lily greeted him, "Did something happen?" it was unusual for Sirius, James and Jim to sit still for more than five seconds

James told Lily about Harry and Sirius, Harry shrinking even more into his father, feeling quite silly for lashing out without thinking.

"If you've apologized then there's no problem, but I hope you think before acting next time Harry. Some things might be different here than on your world, and it would be unfair to the person." Harry was feeling very small, but also felt warm inside that someone cared enough about him to lecture him.

"Mom, do you need some help with the groceries?" Jim said in a hasty attempt to take the attention off of his twin, feeling Harry was uncomfortable with so many eyes on him.

"There's no need for that, it's all shrunk in my pocket." Lily knew what Jim was trying to do and went along with it, "We have to go to Diagon Alley to get Harry clothes and buy him things to decorate his room with. Also, the list for this year's school supplies arrived yesterday so we are going to buy that too." she informed her boys, "Sirius, would you like to come as well?"

"My dear Lils, do you even have to ask?" he said and Lily rolled her eyes.

"Boys, go grab your coats while I put the groceries away." she said, and her four boys raced up the stairs, but Sirius came down right away when he realized he never took his coat off to begin with.

"Let's go, then." James said and Harry made his way to the front door, "Where are you going?" James asked, and Harry looked at him with a confused expression.

"Aren't we going to Diagon Alley?"

"Yes, but we are going by floo."

"Floo?" Harry asked, causing everyone else in the room looked at him as if he grew another head.

"You don't know what floo is, son?" Lily asked, surprised, and Harry shook his head.

"It would be easier to show you." James said, "First, you grab a pinch of floo powder," he said, grabbing the powder that was by the fireplace, "then you say the name of where you wish to go clearly, that's the most important part, you don't want to end up on a stranger's fireplace. And then you throw the floo powder on the fireplace and step through it." James said 'Diagon Alley', threw the powder on the fireplace, and stepped through the green fire.

"He's gone!" Harry exclaimed, wide eyed, and went to look for James on the fireplace, but didn't find him, "Where did he go?" he asked excitedly.

"He went to Diagon Alley, Harry. " Sirius said chuckling at his godson's antics. He had never seen such an excited reaction to the floo network

"Do you want to go next, dear?" Lily asked, and Harry nodded excitedly "Alright, but remember to say 'Diagon Alley' clearly so you don't get lost in the floo network, and keep your elbows close to your body. Your father will be there waiting for you. "

Harry recalled the steps in his head. _'First, grab a pinch of floo powder.'_ He thought as he grabbed a pinch of the powder. _'Then say the name clearly and throw the powder on the fireplace.'_ He thought as he said "D-Diagon Alley." and stepped through the green fire.

When Harry stepped _(stumbled)_ out of the fireplace, he felt like his legs were made out of pudding, and as he looked around, he felt like Diagon Alley had become different since he last came with Hagrid. It had become shadier, and lots of scary witches and wizards walked down the streets. But most important, he couldn't see James anywhere. _'Ok, Harry, don't panic. He must be somewhere close.'_ Once Harry felt he could walk, he stood up and started searching for his father. He walked a few blocks before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around, happy thinking it was his dad, but it was an old scary looking witch that had grabbed him instead.

"A young man such as yourself shouldn't be walking around these streets. Let me take you home so I can help you." Harry knew he should run, but found himself nodding against his will and following the old witch, that is until he heard a familiar voice calling for him.

"Harry! What are you doing around here, young man!?" It was none other than Severus Snape who had approached him, and Harry was seriously considering following the witch for real instead of owing the greasy git a favor.

"It's none of your business, Professor." he said, even though he was actually glad someone he knew was here.

"What did you say?" his tone was dangerously low.

"Nothing. Sir. " Harry said quickly

"That's what I thought."

"Who are you?! Don't get in the way of my business!" the old witch yelled hysterically.

"You better disappear from my sight before I turn you into ashes." Snape said turning to the witch, and she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Snape faced Harry again, and oh boy, did he look angry. "What are you doing here?" he said grabbing Harry's upper arm, right on top of a bruise.

"Ow, professor you're hurting me!" Harry said, trying to get free from Snape's grip.

"Do you expect me to fall for that, so you can run from me? Answer my question!" he said, tightening his grip.

"I'm sorry, I got lost on the floo! You're hurting me!" Harry started crying from the pain, but Snape thought he was crying from guilt.

"Where are your parents?" he said loosening his grip a little, but strong enough so Harry couldn't get free.

"D-Diagon Alley." Harry sobbed out.

"Let's go find them." Snape said, unmoved by Harry's tears.

Once they got out of Knockturn alley, Snape used a point me charm and could easily locate the frantic group trying to find Harry Potter, including Harry Potter himself.

"What..."he started to say when Sirius (as Padfoot) smelled Harry and warned the others

"Harry!" Lily said running to her son "Thank you, Severus. Where did you find him? "

"I found him in Knockturn Alley." Snape said, looking pointedly to Harry, and Lily's breath hitched.

"Oh, my poor baby. You must have been so scared." she said, hugging Harry tighter.

"Lily, did you hear me right?! I found your son in Knockturn Alley, unsupervised, and instead of scolding him you congratulate him?!"

"Severus, I'm sorry I didn't have the chance to tell you until now, but there are some things I have to tell you." Lily told Severus everything that happened in the last twelve hours, and at the end of her story, Snape had a sombre look on his face.

"Wait, then what you told me about your arm was true?" he said to Harry, and he nodded.

"What about his arm?" James said protectively.

"I'm sorry; I thought you were going to run away..." Snape started, but James cut him off.

"What about his arm?" he said again, more forcefully.

"I might have hurt his arm." Snape said with a guilty look on his face.

"What!"Sirius and James yelled at the same time.

"Sirius! James!" Lily reprimanded, "He didn't know. Honey, let me see your arm. "

Harry shrugged off his coat, and on his upper right arm there was an angry purple bruise that was pulsating, and a hand shape from where Snape had grabbed his arm.

"You git!" James said, advancing on Severus.

"James! Not here!" Sirius said while holding James back, even though he himself wanted to hex Snape.

"Dear Merlin, Harry, I'm so sorry. You told me and I didn't listen. I'm sorry." Snape said, pale as a sheet.

"You just grabbed me on top of the bruise." Harry said now that his tears had diminished, but he was still sniffing "It's nothing I can't handle."

"Hey, look! Chocolate frogs! They should help cheer Harry up, and I might have some myself." Jim said, trying to change the subject, and the adults let him do it.

Twenty minutes later the family was in a home decor store buying new bed sheets for Harry.

"I say we should buy the Griffin Cannons themed sheets." Jim suggested.

"No, we should buy the Soaring Lions themed sheets. I'm not going to let you two corrupt him with your bad taste" James argued back.

This argument has been going on since they stepped inside the store. Jim and Sirius wanted to buy Harry the Griffin Cannons themed sheets, and James wanted to buy Harry the Soaring Lions themed sheets. The two quidditch teams were like arch-nemesis, and so they wouldn't let Harry take both.

"Let's leave the three idiots to themselves." Severus and Lily said, steering Harry away from them.

"Is there anything you would like to buy as a decoration for your room, darling? " Lily asked, and Harry chose a snitch-like night light that would fly around the room.

"So we already have everything we need to decorate your room. Let's go to the cashier and on to the next store " Lily said.

"No, we don't! We have to choose the theme for the bed sheets!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Harry, which one would you like?" Snape asked.

"The Griffin Cannons. It is also Ron's favorite team."

"How could you betray your father like that?!" James said, feigning hurt.

"So, in your world Ron's a fan of the Cannons, huh. In this world he's a hardcore fan of the Raging Sphinges." Jim informed Harry.

"Raging Sphinges?"

"They are a team that's currently on the bottom of the championship. Don't mention that to Ron, by the way."

"Boys, let's go. Your mother is going to talk our ears off if we don't do everything we have to do today."

After the home decoration store, the group went to buy clothes for Harry. Sirius and Snape said they had to go somewhere, and would meet them at the bookstore.

"Since your betrayal in the other store, I'm going to choose your clothes." James said.

"Dad, it's lame to have your father pick your clothes." Jim whined.

"No, it's not."

"Dear, I agree with Jim on this one. We should let Harry choose his own clothes." Lily sided with her son.

"Is my entire family made out of traitors?" James grumbled to himself.

"Uhm, dad, would you help me with choosing my clothes?" Harry asked, feeling bad for James.

"It seems not everyone on this family is a traitor!" James said, happily dragging Harry to the boys' aisle.

"Let's go buy you some new clothes as well." Lily said, pushing Jim to the boys' aisle too.

Buying clothes wasn't as easy as it should be. The clothes they found for Harry were always too loose somewhere, and James didn't like the ones that fit. When they saw that the children's section would have clothes that fit Harry, Jim took Harry with him on a wild goose chase around the store, claiming he didn't want his twin to suffer such humiliation. In the end, they had to go to another store, where they found clothes that fit Harry. It was already three in the afternoon, and they still hadn't had lunch, they still had to go to the bookstore, and they had to have Harry and Jim measured for their uniform at Hogwarts. They were forced to go have lunch after much whining from Jim that he was hungry, and were now measuring Harry and Jim for their uniform.

"I hate being measured. I can't stand to be still- OW! And the pins prick. "Jim whined, "The robes I have are still good, I don't see why I have to be measured too."

"Well, it would be easier if you actually were still." Lily scolded.

"The robes will be done in a week." the tailor said, handing James the receipt.

"Next is the bookstore, right?" James asked Lily.

"Yes. We are meeting Sirius and Severus there."

The bookstore was packed of people. It seemed as if everyone went to buy their stationary at the last minute. Sirius and Snape were waiting for the family right across the street from the bookstore.

"Over here!" Sirius waved at them, "What took you so long?"

"Buying clothes for Harry is a, let's say, difficult task." James answered.

"Uncle Sirius, what did you buy?" Jim asked, eyeing the packages Sirius was holding.

"Well, since Prongslets' birthdays are right around the corner, being the wonderful godfather that I am, I decided to buy your birthday presents right now!" Sirius said, giving each boy a package.

"Wow! They are Nimbus 2001!" Jim said excitedly, "Thank you, uncle Sirius! You are the best godfather ever!" Jim said as he hugged Sirius to death.

"What's wrong, Harry? Don't you like it?" Sirius asked.

"It's my first."

"Your first broom? Don't worry, I can teach you how to fly-" Sirius started, but Harry cut him off.

"No, my first birthday present." Harry said with a smile, "Thank you." he said as he went to hug Sirius.

"Harry..." Snape started "Since I figured you wouldn't have your potions kit with you, I bought you one so you can actually be… not horrible at my subject." Severus said, handing Harry the kit.

"Thank you, professor." Harry said, smiling. _'Nice Snape is actually not that awful after all...'_

The group went to the bookstore and bought both boys' school supplies and were making their way back when a squeak caught Harry's attention.

"Hedwig!" he said, and went to pet the owl in the cage.

"Harry, be careful! Owls usually bite anyone who gets too close to them." James warned his son, but Harry was already petting the white owl, which was nuzzling to him.

"Oh, that's a first. This girl doesn't let anyone approach her. Not even me." The shop owner said showing his bandaged hands "If you like her you can keep her." he said, smiling.

"Can I?" Harry asked excitedly.

"Sure, why not?" both parents agreed.

Once they got Hedwig, Harry didn't get away from the owl for a second, even trying to take her with him to the meals, that is until Lilly forbade it.

"Why are you so attached to this owl anyway?" Jim asked Harry.

"She's my partner ever since first year." Harry answered, petting the owl.

Jim had to bite his tongue so he didn't point out that it is not the same owl. It wasn't worth it.

"I see."

Harry was so happy. He had a father, a mother, a brother! And now he had Hedwig too! For things to be better he would just need Ron and Hermione too and he would definitely feel as he was in heaven.


	5. Remus Lupin

It's been two days since the family's trip to the Diagon alley. When they came back, Jim wasn't excited of the fact he was going to wait for a week until he could ride his new broom, since he was still grounded. Harry hasn't ridden his broom either, he felt like he would be rubbing it in his brother's face of he did.

Jim and Harry were stretched up on the couch on the living room dying of boredom when the fireplace's flame turned green and Remus Lupin stepped out of the fireplace. Jim jumped out of the couch and ran to greet his uncle Moony, and Harry sat up slowly, cautious with the man he never met before. The man was pale with deep dark eyebags under his eyes, and he was sweating even on such a cold weather.

"Uncle Remus! "He said hugging the man

"Hey, uhh... " he said scanning the room until he spotted Harry, and saw it wasn't his Harry "Jim? " he asked just to be sure

"Yeah! Did dad tell you already? "

"Yes, he did. And you must be Harry. What's wrong? " he asked noticing the cautious eye the child was giving him

"Jim, who's he? " Harry asked not yet acknowledging Remus. Honestly, he was getting tried of all these new people he was supposed to know about but didn't. It only served to rub on the fact that he wasn't even supposed to be here.

"What are you talking about? He's uncle Remus. " Jim answered as if Harry lost his senses

"You don't know me from your world? " Remus said with a hurt expression he was trying to hide but wasn't doing a great job on

"No, I don't. " Harry asked annoyed _'He's the one hurt? Try meeting a lot of people who could have saved you from the hell you were forced to endure at the Dursleys, but didn't care enough about you to do a thing.'_

"Oh, let me introduce myself then. I'm Remus Lupin. I'm one of your father's longest friends. " he said stretching out his hand for a handshake

"I'm Harry Potter. Not the one from here, the one from another world. "

That sentence gave Jim a chill on his bone. Did Harry think he didn't belong here? But before Jim could address the matter, James entered the living room.

"Hey, Moony! You're here! " James exclaimed as he went to hug Remus, and noticed the distressed expression his son were "And from the looks of it, I say Harry doesn't know you either? "

"No. "Harry said becoming more annoyed

"But we have already introduced ourselves to each other. " Remus added

"That's good, then. Sirius is already on the shack. " James whispered the last part on Remus's ear

"Well, let's go." Remus said heading to the backdoor

Both boys didn't think much of the secrecy the adults were going about. Jim, because he was used to it by now, and Harry, because he didn't think it was something of importance to him.

"I'm going to give Hedwig a bath. " Harry said walking up the stairs to his room

Hedwig has opened up only to Harry so far. If anyone else comes and try to pet the owl, they get their fingers bitten, even Jim. The only one in the family besides Harry the owl doesn't dare bite is Lily, but that's more out of fear than anything else.

A while later, a dripping wet, sneezing Harry Potter made his way to the downstairs bathroom so he could get a towel.

"Harry! What happened to you! Did you decide to take a bath in your clothes too?! " James said while trying to control his laughter

"Hedwig's difficult with her- ACHOO! bathes. " Harry's statement was interrupted by a sneeze and Jim laughed harder

"I can see that. "

"Shut up, Jim. " he said and Jim's smirk grew

"Harry! What happened to you?! " Lily yelled when she came into the room

"I was giving Hedwig a bath and forgot the towels. " Harry said looking to the ground

"You're dripping water in my carpet! _Exaresco!_ " Lily uttered the drying charm, and Harry's hair proofed out from not being used to the spell

"I didn't know our hair could get messier. " Jim said laughing and Harry ran to the bathroom so he could see the damage

"MOM! "

"The afro looks good on you... " Lily tried to calm Harry down and Jim tumbled to the ground laughing

"Ow, my stomach! " Jim could barely speak from laughing so much

Lily and Harry somehow managed to reverse the mess Lily made on Harry's hair, and after that they had lunch. Jim and Harry hadn't seen James since this morning when Remus showed up.

* * *

It was now evening, and this would be Harry's first night of sleeping without the dreamless potion, and although he was happy it was one less potion he would have to take, he was scared he would start having nightmares once again. It was this thought that kept him up all night.

Harry was at the bathroom washing his face when he thought he heard a sound coming from his room. When he got there, it was Hedwig who was rustling in her cage.

"What's wrong, girl? Can't sleep either? " he asked while petting her through the cage, but Hedwig kept on rustling around in her cage "You'll wake up everyone else. " the owl started to hoot loudly and hit the cage "Hey! Shhh! Okay, okay I'll open the cage! " Harry opened the cage and Hedwig flew through the window "What was all that about? " he thought as he got in bed, but then he heard a loud sound outside, as if something broke.

Harry went out to the hallway to see if anyone else heard it, but that didn't seem to be the case. He was considering going back to bed when he heard a sound that seemed to be Hedwig's

"HEDWIG! " was the only thing going through Harry's head as he made his way outside, wand in hand

Once outside, Harry quietly started calling Hedwig, careful not to wake up anyone. He heard a sound coming from the forest behind the house, and went to investigate. The deeper he got into the forest, the louder the sound got.

Harry suddenly heard leaves rustling behind him, and when he turned around he came face to face with a strange creature. Harry's first instinct was to fight, scream for help, run, anything. But one look in the creature's eyes and Harry could see that the creature was hurting. _'He's lonely.'_

"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. " Harry said feeling compassion for the beast "You're lonely. I understand that. I used to be lonely too. " he reached his hand to stroke its fur

"DON'T! HARRY DON'T MOVE! " Harry heard his father shout and froze

"Dad? It's okay. He's not dangerous. He's just lonely. " he reached his hand again, and the creature crept closer

Meanwhile, James and Sirius were slowly getting closer to Harry and the creature, wands pointed in case it attacked. The beast raised its hand to caress Harry's cheek, and their breath got struck in their throat. Once they got close enough, both Sirius and James changed into Padfoot and Prongs, and led the creature back into the forest. Harry made a movement to follow them, but a stag made of light blocked his way. Harry tried to pass by the stag, but he felt it telling him to head back home, and so he made his way to his room. He didn't know why he followed a stag's order, but he felt it would be better to do it.

* * *

Harry woke up early the next morning. His nightmares didn't let him sleep too much, and the encounter with the beast last night still bothered him. He laid awake in his bed, trying to find out if what happened was a dream or not. Figuring he wouldn't go back to sleep again, Harry changed into thick clothes, got his wand and made his way outside to investigate the forest. When he reached downstairs, he saw his mother cooking breakfast.

"Good morning, sweetheart. " Lily said without turning to face him. How she does that, Harry will never know. _'I guess it's the so called mother power.'_ Harry must have said that aloud, because Lily chuckled and turned to face him "It's not mother power. The fourth step creaks. "

"Oh. " Harry said red faced

"Were you planning on going somewhere dressed like that? " Lily asked eyeing the boy's clothes

"I'm going to explore the forest behind the house. " He said heading to the backdoor

"Why? " if Harry paid enough attention, he would have noticed the panicked tone in his mother's question

"I think I saw something in there last night. "

"You were out last night?! Didn't your father said to you not get out of home in the night?! " Lily shouted at her son, but lowered her tone once she saw him flinch

"N-no, he didn't. " Harry answered fearfully. _'Is she going to hit me?'_

"He didn't? Still, it should be common sense, Harry! "

"I'm sorry, no one ever told me. I thought it was a Hogwarts rule. "

"Didn't Petunia tell you anything about how dangerous going out at night is? " Even with how horrible her sister is, even she wouldn't let a eleven year old boy go out alone at night

"It is? But sometimes they would make me sleep on the street. " Harry explained confused _'So that's why they don't let us go out of the common room at night in Hogwarts...'_

"Oh, baby. I'm sorry! I shouldn't have mentioned them! " Lily apologized with tears brimming her eyes

"It's okay. It wasn't all that bad. Sometimes someone would take pity on me and give me food. But I had to be careful so the police didn't catch me. When they did uncle Vernon would hit me in the police station and then he would hit me harder once we got home. " Harry shrugged his shoulder, and Lily started crying "Mom, don't cry. Please. I'm sorry. " tears were pricking at the corners of Harry's eyes. Lily wouldn't stop crying, and his apologies only seemed to worsen the situation. He did the only thing he could think of, he hugged Lily and rubbed soothing circles in her back. Whenever Jim or James did it to Harry, it would always calm down his tears.

Jim came downstair to the sight of his mother crying in his brother's arms. _'It's usually the opposite.'_ He launched himself to the two of them while yelling "GROUP HUG! " and threw them both to the ground.

"Jim! You'll wake your father! " Lily scolded

"Nah, dad's out cold." Jim brushed it off "Are you going somewhere, Harry? " he asked seeing his brother's outfit

"I almost forgot." Harry stood up and went to the backdoor

"Harry, don't go please. " Lily called after her son

"Why? "

"The thing you saw last night is dangerous. "

"You went out last night?! Are you out of your mind! " Jim shouted at his brother "If dad finds out he'll bust your ass! "

"Jim, he didn't know, and watch your language. He doesn't have a Remus in his world, remember? "

"Oh, that's right. Sorry." He apologized to Harry

"Since you know what's in the forest, could you tell me? "

"I think we better wait until your father and Sirius are awake until we talk about it. They know more about the subject than we do. "

"Okay. " Harry was happy he was finally going to be let in on a secret

"Let's have breakfast. " Lily called her two sons

When James and Sirius woke up it was near 2 in the afternoon, and they came down for a late lunch. Remus was still recovering from his transformation in his room, even though Lily went to the shack early in the morning to heal him. Last night Moony was at his worst, and he didn't even want to remember the terrible feeling he got once Moony found Harry in the forest.

After the three men had their lunch, James, Sirius, Remus and Lily made their way to the study so they could discuss last night's happenings. Lily only knew that Harry went out and met Moony, but she didn't know of the details. She went paper white once James finished telling her what happened.

"How could he do such a dangerous thing?"

"That's a child's innocence for you. " James exclaimed while shaking his head. He never wanted to feel as frightened as he did last night. If it wasn't for the dreamless sleep potion Sirius slipped in his tea, James would most surely have nightmares, and the consequences would be catastrophic.

"But that godson of mine sure is on a level of his own. Pet a werewolf? That's surely a deed that surpasses anything the marauders have ever done. " Sirius said with a hint of humor on his voice

"This isn't a laughing matter, Sirius! What would have happened to Harry if we didn't get there in time?! Remus himself said that Moony was at his worst last night. " James exploded at Sirius

"Gee, take a chill pill Prongs. Prongslet didn't feel danger from Moony, and honestly neither did we. No harm no foul. "

"So because he didn't get hurt its all good?! Oh, sure, let's go and tell him 'Harry, you can go pet every beast and monster you find, because you see, if you don't feel danger then it's perfectly fine!' He's eleven, Sirius! He wouldn't recognize danger even if it bit him in the ass! " James yelled angry at his best friend's irresponsibility. When he got to the 'monster' part of his rant, Remus winced noticeably, and once James finished screaming at Sirius, he got up and ran from the room

"James! You went too far! " Lily admonished her husband

Remus didn't even notice he got out of the room. Once he heard his best friend calling him a monster, he knew he had to get out of there. He didn't even think of using the floo, and went straight to the front door. Harry and Jim were flying on their brooms since Lily ushered them out of the house, even going as far as giving Jim an exception on his grounding. Harry was the first to notice Remus getting out of the house, and went down to greet him. Jim pretended he didn't notice, since it would mean he had to go back to being grounded.

"Hey, Remus! " Harry greeted the man "Did something happen? " he asked once he noticed Remus's disheveled state

"Oh, it's nothing cub. I'm sorry about last night. You should get away from me. "

"Why? "

"Harry, do you remember the creature you saw in the forest this evening? " a nod "Well, that was me. "

"But how? " Harry couldn't comprehend. The man in front of him looks nothing like the creature he saw, but if there was some semblance, it would be the eyes. Right now Remus had the same eyes as the beast, though his weren't yellow.

"I'm a werewolf. Do you know what a werewolf is? " Harry shook his head "When I was a child, much younger than you, I was bitten by a werewolf and became one. From that day on, I transform on every full moon night. " Remus explained with a sorrowful expression, and Harry could see clearly the loneliness and the hurt in his eyes.

"It's okay. You don't have to go away." Harry said patting the man on the shoulder "It must have been lonely to go through that for this much time. " Remus started crying and held on to Harry for dear life. Harry didn't mind too much, he was slowly getting used to physical contact. But the man was hugging him so tight it was starting to make his wounds hurt.

"Prongslet's turning blue, Moony. " Sirius said chuckling

"Oh. Sorry, cub." Remus put Harry down, wiped his face with the back of his hand, and started to head out of the property

"Wait, Remus, don't go. I'm sorry about what I said. You know I wasn't referring to you. " said James with a guilty look on his face

"I know, Prongs. I just, I was hurt about what you said. I guess I wasn't expecting it. " James winced

"I'm sorry Remus, I really am."

"Dad! What did you say to Remus? " Harry demanded with a stern tone

"It's none of your business, and it's 'Uncle Remus' to you. " he said while flicking Harry's forehead

"Whatever you said, you have to be nice with your friends! " Harry finished pouting and rubbing his forehead

"Ha! Prongs is getting scolded from his eleven year old son! "

"Uncle Sirius! Don't ruin the moment! " Jim lectured Sirius

"What, Prongslet, want to have a go at it? "

Once the six people got back inside, James and Remus explained to the boys (mostly Harry) about werewolves and why they can't go out of home on nights of full moon. Harry listened intently, while Jim listened only up until they started lecturing them on why they should stay home, since he had already heard it before. Remus considered changing the place of where he transforms, but James and Sirius changed his mind. About nine years before, they found out that when Remus transform in a place near Harry, his transformation isn't as harsh as when Harry is away. They decided it was because it put Moony at ease knowing his cub is safe and near him. It seems that with two Harrys the effect is actually the opposite, but seeing as the two of them are going back to Hogwarts in a month, it wouldn't be worth the trouble to move the location of the shack. Besides, as the shack is located deep inside the forest, the chance of a bypasser is low.


	6. Unicorns and Nightmares

"Harry, wake up!" Jim shouted while banging the door to his twin's room, and Harry came out after a few moments, his hair messier than usual and still wearing his pajamas

"What do you want, Jim?" he asked yawning

"Mom sent me to fetch you. Were you still sleeping?"he noticed his twin's state. Harry nodded "Wow, you sure like to sleep, huh." Harry just shrugged

It wasn't that Harry was sleeping too much, in fact he was sleeping too little. His nightmares kept him up all night, and whenever he managed to sleep, he always cast a silencing spell afraid that he was going to start screaming, and in turn he barely slept from having to maintain the spell. It's been going on for almost a week, and Harry was reaching his breaking point.

"Wait a second, I'm going to change clothes and head down to the kitchen." he said to Jim

"Okay, I'll wait outside the door." Jim had a feeling Harry would just go back to sleep. If only he knew how much he was wrong...

After Harry changed clothes, both boys made their way to the kitchen, Jim skipping ahead of Harry.

"You sure are excited today." Harry said chuckling

"It's a secret, I'll tell you at the table." Jim took off to the kitchen "Last one to the table is a slytherin!"

"Hey, not fair!" Harry ran to catch up with Jim

"Are you going to tell me the big secret now?" Harry said once they sat at the table, he couldn't keep his curiosity to himself anymore

"Uh, uh, you need to work on your patience, little brother." Jim waggled his finger in front of Harry's face

"JIM! Tell me!" Harry whined

"Jim, don't torture your brother." James said lightly. Both parents watched in amusement the interaction between the twins

"Well, since I'm such a awesome brother, I'm going to tell you. Drum roll please..." James used his wand to summon a drum and it started beating "The biiig secret, my dear little brother, is that tomorrow our dear friend Ronald Weasley is coming to spend the day here!" Jim said with a radio announcer voice

"Really?! That's awesome!" Harry said. Finally someone he knew from his world, and if Ron and Jim are friends in this world, that means this Ron is the same as his Ron, right?

"Were you and Ron good friends in your world, Harry?" James usually doesn't ask Harry about his world, as not to bring back bad memories, but Harry sounded so excited he asked without noticing

"Yeah! He and Hermione are my only friends in the world!"

"Wait. Hermione as in Hermione Granger?!" Jim asked surprised

"Why, is there any other Hermione that matters?" Harry didn't like the tone Jim used to talk about his friend

"Harry, please don't tell me you are friends with that bookworm."

"Don't badmouth Hermione!" _'Why is Jim talking like that about Hermione? Isn't he friends with her?'_

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, but you shouldn't be friends with that girl. She's such a know it all, she'll just put you down." Jim wanted to protect his brother, and he definitely shouldn't involve himself with that girl

"Jim, stop it. Miss Granger isn't a bad person. She is such a smart girl, she just find it difficulty to make friends and socialize in general." James intervened. Hermione was top of the year, an incredibly brilliant student. Like Jim said, she had a tendency to put people down when they gave the wrong answers in class, and that ended up making her displaced socially. James thought it was amazing of Harry to be friends with such a difficult girl, but the father in him also feared for his son's self-esteem. Harry doesn't need anyone else to criticize him, he just needs good friends from now on

"You and dad don't know Hermione like I do. She's the kindest person I've ever met, a really good friend." It hurt Harry that Hermione suffered like this in this world. Even his father didn't stand up for her. Realizing he couldn't change both of their views on Hermione right now, Harry will just have to wait for when classes start to make friends with her and show them both the real Hermione Granger

"Why don't you and Jim go flying after lunch, huh, Harry? It will be good for you to know more the terrain around here." Lily suggested. Flying always changed Harry's mood for better, and it was a good subject change. She doesn't know this Hermione girl like her boys do, but she trusts James and Jim's people judgment. If they don't like this girl, then they are probably right in keeping Harry away from her

"Okay!" Lily and James laughed internally at how easily Harry's mood changed. One moment he was sad and the next he is excited like a child

* * *

"Wait, Harry!" Jim yelled after his brother. After the two boys went flying after lunch, Harry decided to make it into a race

"Nuh-uh, you slow poke!" Harry was having such a time in this broom. The Nimbus 2000 Professor McGonagall gave him was incredible, but it didn't even compare to the Nimbus 2001. This broom could go immensely faster than his old broom could

"Harry, don't go too far into the forest!" seeing as his twin wouldn't listen to him, Jim had no choice but fly faster and catch up to him. _'Damn it Harry and his seeker reflexes.'_ Jim was good in a broom, but he didn't have the reflexes Harry did, and he was getting hit by some branches of the trees "Harry!"

"Jim! I found something!" Harry shouted from a distance, and Jim hurried to where he was

"Harry, don't go too far! You don't... what is that?" In front of them was an animal Jim though he would never see in his life. A golden horse with a single horn in its head. The creature was so beautiful Jim inched closer to it without even thinking, but then he noticed the way the creature shied away from him, and was that mercury oozing from its leg?

"It's a unicorn. It's just a child, and it's hurt." Harry explained once he saw the confusion in his twin's eyes

"Wait here, I'll call dad." Jim reached for his broom, but Harry stopped him

"She might not make it if we take that long. I'll try to do something." Harry took out his wand and made his way to the unicorn

"What?! If you mess with the spell, you will make things worse!" What was Harry thinking? He should know that. How much common sense is that boy missing?

"I know that. Hagrid taught me some homemade medicines, all I have to do is summon the right plants." _'Think, Harry. What are the ingredients? Rosenal petals, Scenel seeds... what was the last one? Right! A drop of Peppertain oil!'_

As Harry thought the ingredients for the medicine, they were appearing in front of him without he noticing it. Jim watched in astonishment. The boy wasn't even holding his wand, he was holding his head with both hands, and both his eyes were closed. _'He doesn't know he's doing it? Is that even possible? For a wizard to do magic without his wand...'_

"Jim! We need Rosenal petals, Scenel seeds and Peppertain oil!" Harry said turning to his twin, and Jim pointed to in front of Harry "Oh, that was quick! Thank you!" Harry hurried to make the paste he was going to apply on the unicorn's wounds. _'Mash the seeds, and then put a drop of the oil, then you put an even layer on the Rosenal petals...'_ "Okay, looks like I did it right."

"So now what?"

"We have to apply it." Harry stood up with the paste in hand and slowly made his way to the unicorn "It's okay, girl. We're here to help you." The unicorn at first was restless, but she seemed to understand Harry and Jim were not dangerous and calmed down a little "Yes, that's a good girl. See, it's not hurting anymore." Jim petted the animal as Harry applied the salve on the unicorn, and soon she was sleeping with her head on Harry's lap

"It's starting to darken. Let's go back inside." Jim stood up, but Harry couldn't stand up. If he did, the unicorn would wake, and besides that they still haven't found the unicorn's parents.

"We can't just leave her!" Harry said to his brother

"We did more than enough already. Her parents will surely find her." Jim tried to reason with Harry, but he knew it was a lost cause. Harry was making the same face as he himself did when his mind was set on something, and if Harry was anything like him, there was nothing on this world that could change his mind "Okay, let's go find her parents." He said with a sigh

"Hey, girl. Wake up." Harry gently woke the unicorn, and after making sure the wounds were healed and she could stand up and walk again, the two boys and one unicorn set to find the unicorn's parents

"Did you hear that?" Jim asked Harry. He heard a loud screeching sound coming from east of their location

"Yeah, let's go check it out."

They hurried to where the sound came from, and upon coming there what they saw blew James' mind. A pack of unicorns, all pure white, with a few golden young ones. There were about 20 unicorns total, and upon seeing their child, the unicorn's parents hurried to where she was, and the young unicorn ran to her parents as well. The unicorn that seemed to be the leader of the pack moved to approach both boys, but the young unicorn blocked its path. They seemed to have a silent conversation, and the leader of the pack moved to the boys, but this time without the intent to attack them. The way it was acting seemed as if it was thanking them. The youngsters of the pack moved to play with the boys, and both of them forgot the time.

"Crap! Harry it's 7 p.m already! We gotta go!" Jim said to Harry and both boys hurried home.

* * *

"James, where are the boys?" Lily hadn't seen both boys since after lunch, and it was already dark outside

"Hold on, I'll check if they are outside." James looked out from the window and didn't see any of his sons. He went through the front door to the yard and didn't see them either. He started to get worried. Jim knew better than to fly outside, but since the werewolf incident they have noticed that Harry was missing a good deal of common sense. The boy seemed to find trouble in every corner, and stubbornly refused to ask for help

"Did you find them?" he heard Lily ask from the door, and the worry in her tone was almost palpable

"No."

"You think they got in some sort of trouble?" James knew his wife, and he knew that in this moment countless bad situations were circling in her mind, one worse than the other

"I don't think so, they might have just lost track of the time. They are just kids." He shouldn't have said the last part, because as soon as it came out of his mouth Lily instantly blanched. What James meant by 'We shouldn't expect them to keep track of time' translated to Lily as 'They can't protect themselves if the need arises' "I'm going to search for them." He said quickly, running to the broom closet

* * *

James flew around their house for a few minutes, trying to see the boys. Since he didn't see them, he tried the 'point me' spell. The wand spinned in James' palm and its tip pointed northeast of where he was. James flew quickly following the direction his wand pointed. After about ten minutes of flying he spotted both of his sons and rushed to join them.

"Jim, why did you stop?" Harry asked his twin

"Dad's here." Jim knew in that moment they were done for. Sure, he knew they were done for the moment he agreed to go with Harry search for the unicorn's parents, but a part of him was hoping they could get inside the house and pretend they were there for a while

Harry looked around searching for his father, and upon spotting him he flew to James.

"Dad!"

"Hey boys. Care to explain why you were out this late?" James was trying to bring forth his disappointment at their action, but his relief in seeing both of them safe and sound was so great he was having difficulty being angry at them

"Sorry, we lost track of time. It was my fault." Harry said quickly. He didn't know if they should tell James about the unicorn. Besides the fact he wouldn't believe them, the unicorn child was the first secret Harry and Jim had, he wanted to keep it that way

"Well, since this is your first miss, I'll let it slide. Just this time." James was more than happy in finding an excuse for this. He had a feeling he wouldn't be able to punish both boys equally. Actually he didn't even think he could touch a hair of Harry's, let alone spank him "Please, don't do this again, alright son? We were worried sick, especially your mom. She might just hug the life out of you when we get back."

"Yes, I'm sorry, dad." Harry was truly sorry, he didn't mean to worry anyone. It was something new for him to have people worrying about him. He would have to work on it from now on, but he can't help rushing to help people when he knows someone's in danger. Like the greasy git always say about him, a complete Hero Complex

"Sorry." Jim added

"Let's go back home."

The three wizards flew back to their house, and as they approached the cottage, a extraordinarily good smell filled their noses. A good incentive for the three of them to fly faster. Lily greeted her three sons with a banquet, and the family dined noisily as always since Harry's arrival. Jim couldn't help blabbing about their encounter with the unicorn, but instead of a unicorn, in Jim's story they met an ordinary child stag. Harry kept on nodding out during the dinner, and so he went upstairs as soon as he finished eating (which was only a few bites)

"Harry, are you sleeping already?" Jim asked knocking on Harry's bedroom door

"No, come in." Came the muffled answer from inside the room

"Wow, you look like you've been awake for weeks." Harry's messy hair was messier than usual from his quick bath, and he had dark circles under his eyes, which were really puffy from the lack of sleep

"Thank you." Harry said sarcastically

"You should try to get some sleep." Jim said heading for the door "Oh, I almost forgot why I came here in the first place. Why didn't you tell dad about the unicorn? It would have made a pretty awesome story to tell." he asked from the doorway

"I want it to be our secret. It is the first thing we have that's ours from the beginning."

"Alright, then. Those unicorns will be our special secret. Just ours." Jim said with a blindingly bright smile

"Thanks... for keeping our secret..." The last part came out mumbled because Harry was already sleeping by the end

"Goodnight Harry." Jim said with a smile and got out of the room

* * *

Harry was in a forest. He was crawling on the floor, and he knew he was a snake. He moved fast, as if he was pursuiting someone. He spotted his prey a few hundred meters ahead, and crawled faster _'No!'_ he though in his head _'Run!'_ he prayed his prey would escape, but to his horror, he managed to catch up with the running witch. The woman let out an ear splitting scream when he latched on her leg _'No! Let her go!'_ He felt himself opening his own mouth to bite the witch. She slowly stopped struggling as the poison made its way in her veins, and when Harry let her go, she was already a lifeless corpse. He then turned around and saw his next two victims: the woman's children, a boy no older than five and a girl that looked to be nine years old. _'Not the children! Please! Stop! No! Don't! Don't!'_ no matter how much begging he did in his mind, he didn't spare the children. First he suffocated the little girl as her younger brother watched in horror, knowing he was next. Harry could see the life escaping the little boy's eyes as the air couldn't get to his lungs, it was a sight that will haunt him forever.

 _'...rry! Harry! Wake up!... up!'_ A voice sounded from all around Harry, and he opened his eyes in shock gasping for air as if he had just been buried alive. He tried to make out where he was, but his vision was all blurry. He hastily put on his glasses, but his vision was still blurred, he felt hot wet lines going down his face and realized he was crying.

"Hey, are you alright?" Jim asked worried about his brother. He had been sleeping when he heard muffled screams coming from Harry's room. When he got there, he saw his twin trashing around on his bed, begging someone to stop doing something. When he managed to wake Harry up after a few tries the boy bolted up in his bed and looked around like he was a survivor from some sort of horror movie, crying and all sweaty. "You want to talk about it?" Harry just kept on crying and hugged his shaking frame, and Jim noticed what he was trying to do. He's seen Harry doing it plenty of times already, he was trying to close himself from what was happening around him, and Jim knew it would do more harm than good. He hugged Harry's tiny form, and felt like he was tinier than normal. "It's okay, I'm here. You're not alone, there's no need for you to lock yourself. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." he kept on rubbing circles on Harry's back and murmuring reassurance words in his ear until Harry stopped crying and was drifting off to sleep again. He slowly moved from the bed, and was going back to his room when he felt something tug on his pajama pants. He looked back to see Harry letting go of the fabric as if he had just been burned

"Sorry." He said with a hoarse voice from all the crying

"How long have you been having nightmares?" Jim asked serious

"For as long as I remember." Harry answered in a low raspy voice that Jim could barely understand what he was saying

"Why didn't I notice it?" Jim asked himself sinking in the foot of Harry's bed

"I put silencing spells before going to sleep. It's something I've done since entering Hogwarts when I learned the spell." Harry didn't understand why Jim was sad that he didn't notice Harry's nightmares. _'He's supposed to be happy, right? Wait, what if he asks mom and dad to get rid of me because I don't let him sleep.'_

"That doesn't matter! I'm you! You're me! A _fucking_ silencing spell shouldn't make me unable to notice it! I saw how sleepy you looked and I didn't notice! How much of an idiot am I?!" Jim ranted on but stopped when he saw Harry trying to curl himself in a ball again "Sorry, I shouldn't say those things near you." He put a hand on Harry's shoulder, but the boy flinched "Do you want to sleep with me tonight?" He asked but Harry shook his head "For me. I think I'll have nightmares if you're not near me tonight." Harry thought for a moment then nodded. Jim carried his brother like a baby to his room, despite Harry's weak protests. The boy was so sleepy he could barely lift his head, and he was sleeping before they even entered Jim's room.

For the first time in forever, Harry had good dreams as he slept.


	7. Ron Weasley

The next morning the Potter twins woke up to the sound of running around the house, and Jim's bedroom door suddenly burst open, revealing a very disheveled looking James Potter.

"Jim! Did you see-" James woke up early that day and decided to check on Harry, he was having a bad feeling on his gut about his youngest. Upon reaching his bedroom, Harry wasn't there and the bed sheets were thrown out, James panicked and thought that a death eater had kidnapped his newest son. He had searched everywhere on the second floor for Harry, and when he went to look for him in the only place he hadn't searched for yet, he was greeted with the sweetest sight he had ever seen since Jim was a baby. Both boys were sleeping on the same bed, with Jim wrapping his arms protectively around Harry and Harry resting his head on Jim's chest. James was definitely going to put this memory on a pensive

"Dad? What's wrong?" Harry asked rubbing his eyes with his fist

"Oh, sorry son. I was looking for you. Why aren't you in your room?" Harry started to fidget at James' question. He didn't want anyone else to know about his nightmares, he was afraid they were going to think of him as a freak

"We just talked the whole night, and Harry decided to sleep here for the night." Jim sensed Harry's discomfort and made up an excuse on the spot "Dad, can you move Harry's things so we share the same room? It will be better that way." Jim thought that if Harry slept in the same room as him, he would at least have fewer nightmares

"Are you okay with that, Harry?" James asked his son, and Harry hesitated to answer, he didn't want to be a burden to other people, but one look at Jim's face and he knew it would be alright for him to say what he wanted

"Yes, please." Harry finally answered

"Alright then, I'll do it after breakfast." James informed his sons

After much nagging from Jim and having to withstand Harry's puppy eyes, James fixed the boys' room and so both of them spent the rest of the morning giving the room its finishing touches as they waited for Ron's arrival.

"He's here!" Jim exclaimed excited when he heard the floo and rushed to the living room

"What?" Harry didn't understand but followed Jim nonetheless

"Ron!" Jim greeted his friend from the top of the staircase

"Harry!" Ron said and rushed to his best friend, but stopped when he saw his best friend following his best friend "Which one are you again?" The Weasleys were one of the first people that were informed of the change in the Potter household, but for Ron to start calling the boy who has been his best friend since before he could even understand what was happening around him was awkward to say the least

"I'm Jim, and he's Harry." Jim introduced Harry and upon coming closer Ron could see the differences between both boys. The other Harry Potter was skinny, he looked to be around ten, and there was something more. Was it the eyes? Even though they looked the same as Jim's, Harry's eyes felt different, they didn't hold the same light Jim's eyes did.

"Hey, I'm Ronald Weasley, but Ron's fine." Since he didn't know if Harry knew him in his world, Ron thought it was better if he introduced himself anyway

"I know." Harry said in a sad tone, and Ron wondered what he was so sad about

"Harry!" The three boys heard a shrill tone coming from the floo, and just then did the twins noticed the other Weasley family members standing in the living room. How they missed such a big croud was beyond them _'They must have come to see the freak show here.'_ , Harry thought

"Hey Molly, this is Harry, I'm Jim now." Jim said pointing to his twin

"Oh, I'm sorry darling. It will take a while to get used to it." She said approaching the boys, and when she approached Harry she kneeled to get a better view on him, even though she didn't need to do such a thing since Molly herself was so short "Hello dear, my name is Molly Weasley, but you already know that, don't you?" she said with a smile

"No, I didn't." Harry said looking down and Molly's face got a sad expression. Even without seeing, Harry knew his mother's face must be sad by now. "In my world I know Ron, Fred, George and Percy, but I don't know your name, or Mr. Wealey's, Ron's little sister, and I didn't even know he had two other brothers." As Harry went on talking, Ron's face got a darker tone to it, he couldn't believe he didn't tell his best friend about his family

"Well, then let me introduce our family properly. I'm Arthur Weasley, this is Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Percy Weasley, Charlie Weasley, and last but not least, Bill Weasley." Arthur went on pointing to each member of his family as he introduced them to Harry, and the boy made sure to keep on his mind the names of each one of Ron's family members

"Boys, why don't you and Ginny go and play a match of quidditch?" James said to them as an excuse to get them out of the house, and fortunately they got the hint and went outside to play, even Bill and Charlie, leaving just the parents on the house

"Dear Merlin, Lily, I'm sorry." Molly could no longer hold back her tears once her children were out of the house "I thought I would protect him once you were no longer there, but I didn't. He didn't even know me." She chocked on the last words

"Molly, look at me. None of this is your fault. You hear me? I don't know the details of anything that happened on his world, and honestly I think it's better if we don't know, but one thing's certain: Voldemort is the one to blame for all of this. Not you." Lily said in a no nonsense tone. She would not allow for Molly to blame herself for something she had no control of

"The only thing we can do now is to make sure Harry has a happy lifestyle." James concluded his wife's thinking.

The four adults heard loud noises coming from outside, and went to check out what was going on. When they got outside, Lily and James saw something that almost made their hearts jump out of their throats: Harry was standing on his broom trying to catch a snitch that was almost at the end of the wards around the property, with Bill and Charlie around him trying to coax him to sit back on his broom.

"Harry, sit down now!" Charlie said with a stern tone

"I'm almost catching it." Harry said without taking his eyes of the snitch

"If you fall you'll break your neck!" Bill tried to reason with the boy, and Harry jumped of his broom and caught the snitch, but his broom flew under him before he hit the floor

"Yes! Take that, Jim!" Harry cheered as he flew down to the floor

"What were you thinking!" Jim scolded his brother

"You were the one who dared me to take the snitch!" Harry shot back

"That wasn't enough reason for you to risk your life like that! What if you fell?!" Jim was angry that Harry would do such a stupid thing for such a stupid reason. He was angry at himself as well for daring him to do it, but he didn't think Harry would react like that

"HARRY JAMES!" James roared from the front door as he rushed to his son, and Harry flinched at his dad's stern tone "What did you do that for?!"

"I was catching the snitch. I'm a seeker, that's my job." Harry defended himself, but with a resolution not as strong as he did with Jim

"You're a trouble seeker, that's what you are." James shot back and Ron snorted a laughter

"Ronald!" Molly scolded Ron

"But… he said… trouble seeker!" Ron could barely speak without laughing and even Jim laughed at that

"That was a horrible pun, dad." Jim said laughing and holding his abdomen. James flushed at the thought, because really, it was a _terrible_ pun

"S-Shut up Jim!" James barked, his face red from embarrassment "And you!" He said to Harry, who was giggling as well, but immediately stopped when James turned to him "The next time I see you standing up on a broom I'll lock it on the broom closet and throw the key away, do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir." Harry said looking to the ground not from embarrassment, but because he felt if he looked in his father's face he would start laughing again

* * *

The Weasleys went home after lunch, as their reason to come was to see the new Harry Potter, but Ron stayed for the night. The three boys did all they could do in one afternoon, and even so they still had enough energy to ride their brooms across the world.

"Boys!" James called from the staircase. The three of them went to Harry and Jim's room after dinner, and haven't shown their faces since

"Yeah?" Jim said as he, Harry and Ron went down the stairs

"We have an Order meeting now, so you'll be by yourselves, ok?" James said tying his scarf around his neck

"Can we go too?" Jim asked excited. Both James and Lily thought it would be a good idea to tell Jim about the Order when he was younger, they even took him with them to a few meetings when they couldn't find someone to babysit him, but it backfired on them. Whenever they had to go to an Order meeting, Jim would beg nonstop for them to take him as well.

"Jim, we've talked about this far too many times already. You're not joining the order before you're seventeen years old. We'll be back in the early hours, so don't wait up. I want the three of you in bed before midnight, I've also asked Percy to come here in the middle of the night to check on you boys, so for the sake of the two of you, I better not hear any bad news, alright?" He said the last part sending a fierce glare to both Jim and Harry

"I have no idea what you could possibly be talking about." Jim said with an angel face that was so fake even Harry had nothing to say about it

"I'm serious, Jim."

"I know, I know. We won't do anything stupid." Jim said waving his hand in the air

"I trust you. Bye boys." He said ruffling the three boys' heads and rushing to the floo, Lily long gone

"We're going there, aren't we?" Ron said with a scared face

"Damn right we are. An opportunity like this won't present itself to us like that again." Jim said with that mischievous face that warned Ron nothing good will come out of their adventure

"What's the 'Order' you and dad were talking about?" Harry asked

"You don't know what the Order is?" both Jim and Ron asked incredulously

"No. Should I?"

"Well, yeah! The Order of the Phoenix is the only organization that can go up against Voldemort-" Jim started

"Don't say it!" Ron interrupted, looking around as if Voldemort would apparate in the middle of the room just by saying his name

"Anyway," Jim continued rolling his eyes "basically everyone we know is part of the Order. Mom, Dad, Uncle Sirius, Uncle Remus, Molly, Arthur, Charlie, Bill... like I said, basically everyone. It was created by Professor Dumbledore to battle against Vol- ahem, You-Know-Who" Jim corrected himself before Ron interrupted him again "and his death eaters. I think the Order's even stronger than the Ministry of Magic."

"Wow." Harry could only say that. To think that all this time there was such an incredible group of people "And you're going to infiltrate the Order?"

"No, not the Order. It's too dangerous. Ron and I will go to the Black manor." Jim said and Ron paled at the thought of going there again. The last time they got caught, Ron thought his mom would definitely kill him by the look on her eyes. It took him forever to get out of his grounding. If they get caught again, he was sure he would never see the light of day again

"Just the two of you? What about me?" Harry asked

"You would just get in the way if you went, so you'll keep guard here. When Percy comes, you'll pop your head by the railing in the second floor and tell him we're sleeping. We'll be back before mom and dad come back."

"No."

"No? You think the plan's not going to work?" Jim thought he had it all planned. They would go to the Black manor, explore it, and come back before James and Lily come back. With Harry watching out for Percy, there was no way they would get caught

"I won't guard the fort while the two of you go and have an adventure without me. I either come with you, or you won't go at all." Harry would not stand for it. If their parents found out he let Jim and Ron go to the Black manor, he would be in trouble as well. If he was risking himself, he would make it be worth it

"What, are you going to tattle us to mom and dad?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm going to do" Harry answered with a determined look on his face that Jim knew nothing would change his mind. Just like that time with the unicorns, Harry went in full stubborn mode

"Fine! Do whatever you want. But I'm warning you, if you drag us down I'm leaving you behind." Jim decided letting Harry come with them would be better than arguing with him. Another chance like this would not present itself again, and arguing with Harry would just be a waste of their time

"What about Percy?" Ron knew his brother. Perfect Percy would tattle them in a heartbeat

"Once he comes here and not see any of us, he'll probably warn our parents and we'll be in the biggest trouble ever. Are you okay with that?" Jim said the last part to Harry

"Yes." Harry's heart was beating fast with the prospect of an adventure after so long

"Let's go then." Jim said heading to the fireplace. He took a pinch of the powder, said 'Black Manor' and vanished in the green flames, Ron and Harry following right after him

* * *

 **A/N: I didn't know that the Black manor and the 12 Grimmauld Place were the same place until a friend of mine properly explained it to me a while ago, and I had already started the story, so for the sake of the it let's just say they're not the same place, okay?**


	8. Adventure at Black Manor part I

When the three boys reached the manor, the first thing that caught Harry's attention was the abandoned look of the place. There were clothes draped over the furniture to conserve it, but it clearly wasn't working. The furniture looked so old that Harry felt it would break down under him if he sat on it. _This house is so sad…_

"Where are we going now?" Harry asked the two ringleaders

"We've explored all the wings of the manor but we still haven't found what they're hiding." Ron explained

"If it was easy to find then it wouldn't be hiding it, would it?" Jim concluded with a smirk

"What exactly are we looking for?"

"We don't know what it is, but the adults don't want us to find. They say it's 'too dangerous'." Jim said the last part with a sneer at the thought of being treated like a child

"Then maybe we shouldn't go looking for it. If the adults don't want us near it then they must have a good reason."

"Don't even start it, Harry. Believe me, I've tried far too many times to change his mind, but Jim won't listen to reason. It's better we go along with this idiot than let him waltz here by himself." Ron said shaking his head

"You two can go back home if you're scared. I'm getting to the bottom of this mystery."

"I'm not going back." Ron said quickly

"Me neither." Harry added as well

"Since we have more people today, maybe we should split up?" Ron suggested

"It's actually a good idea. Ron, you take the third floor, Harry gets the second floor, and I search the first floor. Let's meet here in front of the fireplace in an hour. If we still have nothing we'll think of something else." The three boys nodded and went to their separate ways

"Jim's really serious about finding what they're hiding from us." Harry commented as he and Ron walked up the stairs to the second floor

"You tell me. Lately he's been considering using truth potion on Mr. Black." Ron said with a tired sigh, he was really sick of losing his precious sleep hours just to catch up with Jim's madness. If they didn't find something today, he was really going to talk Jim out of this wild-goose chase

"On Sirius?! Is he insane? Even I can see he's really strong, and I didn't know him until about a week ago."

"That's what I've been trying to make him understand. Honestly, I don't think anymore that there's anything hidden here, we've searched this place for almost a year now and still didn't find anything, not even a clue." Ron said honestly, and a small smile graced Harry's lips. Even on another world, Ron is still the true loyal friend he is on his world

As the two boys reached the second floor, Harry's scar started to hurt so bad he fell to his knees.

"Harry! What's wrong?" Ron asked panicked. One second Harry was fine, the next he is on his knees from the pain

"…hurts!" Harry said between grinded teeth

"What hurts? Your head?"

"No… scar!" The pain was so strong Harry could barely talk

"Scar? What scar?" Harry felt something wet on the hand he was holding his forehead and when he took his hand away to see what it was, he saw his hand red from blood "You're bleeding!" Ron was one step from hyperventilating "Jim! Jim!" He hollered for his best friend and heard a crash downstairs followed by the sound of footsteps running towards them

"What!" Jim said out of breath from the sudden run he just did

"Harry's bleeding!" Ron said panicked

"Ron calm down. Harry, let me see your forehead." Jim said calmly, but on the inside he was panicking. What if his younger brother was hurt because of him?! He should have never come here in the first place. He gently took Harry's hand from his cut, and saw a lightning bolt shaped wound dripping blood on his forehead "What kind of cut does that?" He wondered out loud

"It's a scar I've had since I was a baby." Harry explained. Somehow when Jim touched him the pain subsided a bit

"A scar? It's not a new wound?" Jim asked

"No. It's okay now. I think I can stand up." Harry said standing up on jelly-like legs

"Don't force yourself. Once you're good enough to walk we'll go back home." Jim said calmly and both Ron and Harry looked at him as if he was an alien "It was a bad idea to begin with." He pretended he didn't notice the look he was given

"Wait, I know where we should go." Harry said and slowly walked to a giant portrait of Phineas Black

"There's nothing behind it, we've already checked." Jim said and when Harry reached the portrait, he hissed something to the portrait and it changed into a huge double stone door and Harry opened it and entered it

"Come on, I'll leave you behind!" Harry's voice came from behind the doors and both Jim and Ron rushed to him

"What did you say to the portrait?" Jim asked once they were beside Harry

"I just asked him to let us through." Harry answered simply and since they couldn't hear it that well they had no choice than trust him

The hallway the three boys walked was as creepy as it could be. Dark, dusty, spider webs everywhere, insects crawling all around them. Ron trembled with fear, and even Jim himself was a little bit scared, though he wouldn't admit it even if it killed him. The only calm one was Harry, in fact, he was skipping ahead with the thrill of an adventure on his head.

"D-Don't go too far, Harry." Ron called out

"What are you guys so scared about anyways?" Harry asked innocently

"I-I'm not scared!" Jim spluttered out indignantly "What are _you_ so happy about?"

"It reminds me of the underground chambers." Harry answered with a smile, but Jim and Ron didn't catch up on what he was referring to "The philosopher's stone?" Nope "The three headed dog? Fluffy?" Nada "The giant chess game?" Yup, still nothing "Never mind then." Harry sighed and they kept on walking

"I guess things were pretty lively on your world, huh, Harry." Ron tried to make conversation in order to keep his nerves from trying to explode

"Not that much, I guess. Most of it was Professor Quirrell's doing. He was trying to steal the philosopher's stone so he could revive Voldemort."

"Don't say-" Ron started

"-his name. Yeah we got it." Jim finished rolling his eyes "Wait, so Voldemort-" he put his hand around Ron's mouth before he could interrupt him "he's dead in your world?" he asked confused. Who could be so strong that could kill a monster like that?

"You know how Dad and Mom are dead in there?" Jim nodded. James had sort of explained things for him "Well, when I was a baby, Voldemort attacked our house. I don't really know the details, but he tried to kill me with a curse, but somehow Mom made the curse backfire on him. That's how I got this scar, and Mom and Dad died, but at least they took Voldemort with them. When I was on my first year at Hogwarts, the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrell, tried to use the philosopher 's stone to revive him, but me, Ron and Hermione stopped him." After Harry finished his story, an uncomfortable silence filled the space between the three boys

"It must have been a hell of an adventure." Jim commented and Harry nodded

"Yeah. Let's turn left." Harry said once they reached a bifurcation on the path

"How do you know this is the right path?" Ron asked, still not letting up on the death grip he had on Jim's left arm

"I just feel it." Harry said and Jim nodded

"I feel it too." He commented

"How come I'm the only one who can't feel it?" Ron exclaimed frustrated

"Maybe you're so scared you're not feeling it?" Jim teased his best friend

"As if you're one to talk! I can feel your arm trembling from where I'm holding you!" Ron barked back

"I'm trembling from emotion, you know!"

"Yeah, and that emotion is called fear!" Ron retorted and the two of them stood glaring at each other

"Heeey, I'm leaving you two behind." Harry left the two bickering idiots by themselves

"WAIT! HARRY!" Jim and Ron shouted and ran up to catch up with Harry, latching themselves to both of Harry's arms

"It's so dark I can barely see what's in front of me." Jim commented as he squinted his eyes

"I can see just fine." Harry said walking ahead

"At least one good thing from living with those monsters, huh." Harry looked at Jim chuckling when he hit a wall and stopped

Suddenly, the whole room was lit up, and in front of them was a door the height of a house, and it took the entire space of the wall. It was intricately decorated with snakes, and looked like it was made of pure gold

"Wow…" was all that the three of them could say in face of such a beauty

"Let's go." Jim was the first one to recover from his stupor, and so he pushed open the door, leading the way for his brother and his best friend

* * *

The fireplace on the living room of the Potter's home in Godric's Hollow lit up with a green flame, and Percy Weasley stepped out of it. He looked around, expecting for it to be a complete wreck –it wouldn't be the first time he would arrive to such a scene. Honestly, he doesn't know what was going through their parents' heads when they decided to leave the two little monsters by themselves. And judging from the few hours he spent with the new family member, Harry was no different from Jim in that aspect, in fact he was a little more troublesome since they still don't know how to deal with him. He searched the entire bottom floor of the house, and no sign of the three kids. He looked at the broom closet, and –thankfully- the brooms were in there. He walked to the bottom step of the staircase and hollered for his brother, but no one came down. Sighing, he walked up the steps to the second floor, and knocked softly on Jim's bedroom door. No answer again. With a bad feeling setting on the pit of his stomach, he hastily opened the door to find an empty room. He almost yelled out in frustration, and quickly and angrily stomped down towards the fireplace. Picking up a pint of floo powder and shouted "12 Grimmauld Place!" and disappeared in a sea of green flames. Dusting himself off, he walked to the dining room, where the Order would most likely be having their reunion, and knocked on the door. He heard shuffling, and soon Remus Lupin opened the door just a little bit so he could see who knocked. Upon recognizing Percy, he and the other Order members put down their wands, and James and Lily came rushing to him

"Did something happen?" James asked anxiously

"I thought it would be better to let you know that they are not home. The brooms are still on the closet, though." Percy said shuffling a bit awkwardly, not used to receive so many stares

"WHAT!" All of the Order of the Phoenix exclaimed

"James!" Sirius exclaimed suddenly standing up "They found the door!" James understood, and in an instant the two of them and Remus were heading to the fireplace, leaving the rest of the group – minus Lily and Dumbledore – not understanding what was happening

"Lemon drop, anyone?" Dumbledore offered his trademark candy, mentally preparing himself to start explaining the commotion to the Order


	9. Adventure at Black Manor part II

As they passed through the golden doors, both Jim and Harry felt a shudder run down their spines. They looked around, but didn't see anything that posed a threat, so they lowered their guards. Which, to say, was a horrible mistake. As soon as they lowered their wands, a blast of green light came flying their way. If it wasn't for Ron's quick acting at pulling both of them out of the blast's way, Harry and Jim would already be history by now.

"T-Thanks Ron." Jim said, still a little shaken by this almost death encounter

"Do you think _that_ was the secret?" Ron asked, sweating buckets

In front of them stood a bronze statue, humanoid form, with six arms, each of them having a different colored jewel on the back of the hand.

"Go away!" it hissed at the three boys, its voice sounding like a combination of various other sounds

"W-We should do as it says." Ron said inching back to the door

"No way. We finally got this far to let this thing stop us." Jim was set on finding out the secret, and he _was sure_ the secret wouldn't be that… that _thing_!

"I want to continue too." Harry said, his eyes sparkling with barely contained excitement

"As I said before, you can go back if you want to, Ron." Jim's eyes never left the statue as he chatted on. It wasn't attacking them, so he figured out it only attacked if they stepped within a certain range of it.

"As if I can just leave the two of you alone!" Ron shot back

With things between them resolved, the three Gryffindors raised their wands and went through the spells they knew of on their heads. Harry was disappointed when he realized he barely knew any spell at all, the only one he could really use was Stupefy, and even then he didn't think he was that good at that spell, since it was a spell he would properly learn only when he became a third year.

"Bombarda!" Ron said and a shockwave hit the statue

"Incendio Tria!" Jim chanted and flames came out of the tip of his wand, but both his and Ron's spells didn't reach the statue, as it had a shield surrounding it

"We have to enter its radius so we can attack it." Jim concluded, and he and Ron nodded. Harry could only watch in astonishment as his brother and best friend battled the statue as if they were war veterans

Once Jim and Ron entered its attack range, the creature started shooting spells at them, and as they got closer to it the rate at which the spells were shot increased, until it got to the point all Jim and Ron could do was dodge them

"Stupefy!" Harry shouted and the statue flew a good three meters from its previous spot, giving Ron and Jim the chance to finish it off

"Wow, Harry, what spell did you use?" Ron asked excited

"I just used the Stupefy charm." Harry answered cocking his head to the side

"No way! Did you see how heavy that thing is?! You shot it at least three meters away!"

"I'm se-" The ground suddenly started shaking, and the three boys fell to the ground

" _Threat confirmed. Protect the passageway._ " The statue hissed, and they turned to look at it. Steam came out of it, and suddenly it stood up, the jewels at its hand glowing brightly

"What the-."

"I thought you took it down!"

"I wanna go home!"

The statue charged at them, and it suddenly became a battle of who shot the spells quicker. Thankfully, the statue discarded all of its defense in order to focus on the offense, so they did the same. With their numeric advantage, they could take it down once and for all. With a few more merciless spells, Ron made sure that the statue wouldn't stand up again so soon

"Isn't that overkill?" Harry asked a bit awkwardly and Ron blushed a little

"Well, now that we took care of that monster, let's move on, shall we?" Jim announced with sparkles on his eyes

"Jim, you're really enjoying yourself, aren't you?" Ron commented with a sigh

"This fight got me all fired up!" Jim answered giving a thumbs up

"Let's just go…" Ron didn't care anymore

* * *

As soon as the three marauders stepped out of the fireplace, they ran up the stairs to the second floor, taking two at a time, until they stopped in front of the portrait of Phineas Black.

"How did they even figure it was here?" James wondered aloud. This was the perfect hideout from curious eyes and hands, and they even made sure to charm it so no one could notice the portrait at first glance

"Well, it was just a matter of time until they found it, right?" Sirius said shrugging

"You know, Padfoot, sometimes your recklessness is extremely irritating." Remus retorted while glaring at his friend

"Come on guys, we have no time to lose. The boys might be lost in the hallways." The hallways that led to the golden doors were bewitched by the marauders, Lily and Dumbledore to make whoever reached it get lost inside of them. Even the three marauders don't know for sure which is the right path, so they would have to roam these hallways while hoping to find their wayward puppies.

"Sirius, did you bring the map?" James asked

"Of course I didn't. You said to me 'burn it' so I did it." Sirius answered

"Did you at least memorize it?" Remus was getting fed up with this comedy-like routine

"Nope." Sirius answered popping the 'p' "Now, come on. No time to waste, you see." He pushed James and Remus inside

"Wha-! Wait! Sirius!" Remus tried to protest, but they already were inside the hallways "You idiot! Now we're lost too!" he wacked Sirius in the back of his head

"Ouch! Prongs! Moony's bullying me!" Sirius hid himself behind James, who was quiet through the entire exchange

" **HUH?!** " Sirius ran away from James once he became the target of his deadly glare "Oh, I'm sorry, you great **IDIOT**! He should do **WAAAY** more than that! He should **murder** you! We should take this chance that there are no witnesses and murder you right here, you **DUMBASS**!" James ran after Sirius, leaving behind Remus, who kept pinching the bridge of his nose, as if it would help ease his building headache

"I'm surrounded by idiots…" he lamented to himself

* * *

"Oooh, this one seems fun!" Ron exclaimed when the three of them reached the next room. It was set up like a board game, with a huge cube in the middle of the room. Once they stepped on the room, the tile that was underneath them glowed, and a barrier formed around them, effectively trapping them in the game

"What do we have to do?" Harry looked around. The only other thing in the room was the cube, so maybe it was some sort of dice? Then did that mean they had to throw it? But how?

"Stupefy!" Jim chanted and the cube's sides lit up. Different patterns appeared on it, until it settled on the number three showing on all faces. The barrier in front of them extended three tiles ahead, and the barrier behind them also moved the three tiles, dragging the boys together with it. The tile they stopped on was a blue colored one. The three young wizards heard screeches coming from underneath them, the barrier holding them disappeared and they jumped out of the tile. As soon as they did so, a horde of pixies came from the ground. The little creatures stopped in the air in front of the children, there was a moment of tense silence before the pixies jumped at them

"What are these things?!" Harry and Ron asked to nobody in question as they shielded their faces from the small beasts

"They're pixies. My dad told me about them, they used to wreck havoc back in the 17th century, but they're mostly just trouble makers." Jim answered as he batted on the pixies tugging on his shoelace

"Did he tell you how to get rid of them?" The little pixies tugging on his hair was starting to hurt

"No."

"Hey! Give them back!" Harry shrieked as the little beasts took his glasses from him. He blindly waved his hands on the air as he tried not to stumble on the ground and followed the pixies' whistling for him. He lifted his wand and shot stupefy spells at them, missing by far where the creatures were

"Careful Harry!" Jim said when a spell almost hit him. He made no move to help his little brother, partly because Harry managed to grab all of the pixies' attentions and mostly because it was funny to see it

"I said CUT IT OUT!" Harry shouted out and a blast of magic came out of him, which trapped the small creatures in mid air

"I have an idea."H Ron said quickly. He conjured a cage and began trapping the pixies in it. Jim quickly followed his lead and in no time they had captured all of the creatures. Jim picked Harry's glasses from the ground and gave them to him. He hastily put them on and gave a relieved sigh upon recovering his sight. The three wizards picked up the cages containing the pixies and put them on the tile they came from. The ground opened up and the creatures were gone.

The barrier came back and the dice appeared once again in the middle of the room. This time Harry shot it and the dice scrambled once again before settling on a number ten showing on all faces. They landed on a white colored tile

A text appeared in front of them. The letters looked like they were made out of light and they read _'Can you take the challenge?'_ the three boys exchanged looks

"Well, yeah, I guess." Jim said awkwardly

' _How do you make the number one disappear by adding to it?'_ The number 10 appeared below the text and it began counting down

"What?" Both Ron and Jim didn't understand a thing about the question

"You add the letter g and it's g'one." Harry answered without batting an eye

' _If a white house is white and a yellow house is yellow, what color is a greenhouse?'_

"Ha! They wrote it wrong!" Jim pointed out

"Green, duh!" Ron answered and the countdown that was on nine jumped to three. Both Jim and Ron started running around like chicken with their heads cut off while blaming the other

"Clear! A greenhouse is made of glass, so it's clear!" Harry quickly answered

' _What is the one question you can never answer correctly?'_

"The potions class tests." Both Jim and Ron answered seriously as they nodded their heads. The countdown changed to three and they began wrestling on the ground over which one was the bigger idiot

"You can't answer the question 'Are you dead?' correctly."

' _What room has no doors or windows?'_

Jim opened his mouth to answer what obviously would be a stupid thing and Harry turned around to glare at him "You answer it wrong and I will hex your mouth shut." Jim sensed the seriousness in Harry and wisely shut his mouth as he pouted like a little kid

"A mushroom." Ron answered and both Jim and Harry looked at him with questioning gazes "My dad has a book of muggle riddles, and this one is his favorite so I remember it."

' _What has three letters and starts with gas?'_

"Huhh, gas?" Ron answered before he could hold himself and the numbers changed to one instead of three

"A car!" Harry quickly shouted and the text changed into two hands that started clapping at them. Confetti dropped from the ceiling onto their heads and the dice appeared on the center of the room

"How did you know all these riddles?" Ron asked Harry. The book his father owns is quite thick, there is no way Harry memorized it

"My aunt had an old book of riddles. When she threw it away I kept it to myself." Harry smiled fondly at the memory of the book that helped him survive the hell that was living with the Dursleys. Oh how many times Harry read that book when he couldn't sleep at night or felt too lonely. He even made an old lady at the park laugh with the riddles once

"Hmm. That's nice." Jim said smiling a little at seeing one of Harry's rare true smiles

"I'm getting tired of this game." Ron commented as he counted the remaining tiles. 28 to go

"Me too. Roll the dice, Harry."

"Yeah."

"Why me?"

"Well, you got a ten the other time. You're obviously our lucky charm."

Harry sighed. He was no lucky charm to have around, but it would lead to a long discussion and he would end up doing it anyway, so whatever "Stupefy!" Jim and Ron were right, Harry got another ten on the dice. Maybe he _was_ lucky

This time they landed on a yellow colored tile. A mirror with golden frame appeared on the middle of the room and the barrier around the boys disappeared. They walked to the mirror and analyzed it from afar. They didn't find any switches on it nor did they feel any magic surrounding it

"What are we supposed to do with it?" Jim said walking to the mirror and putting his hand on it, thinking it was some kind of barrier. His reflection smiled devilishly and pulled him inside the mirror

"Jim!" Harry and Ron shouted after him and ran to the mirror. They couldn't enter it and both Jim and his reflection were gone. Harry backed up a few steps and shot a hex at the mirror

"Give my brother back!" he shouted at the mirror and took a stance to fire another spell at the mirror. The spells seemed to bound out of the mirror and that only aggravate him further. Ron could see the magic crackling around Harry and shaking the ground a bit where he stood "Give him back!" tears were gathering at the corner of his eyes as the thought of losing his family again drowned his thoughts

"Harry!" Ron called his attention, but Harry paid no mind to him "Hey! Harry!" he put his hand on Harry's shoulder and flinched upon receiving an electrical shock from the magic coating the boy, but he didn't lift his hand. Instead, he shook Harry's shoulder forcefully and finally got the boy's attention

"What do you want, Ron?!" Harry snapped at him and Ron winced. He never saw Harry this younger before. His expression reminded him of Jim's when Draco Malfoy humiliated him on the great hall last year and Jim punched him in the face before starting a huge fight of Gryffindors against Slytherins, which ended with suspensions to all sides in the fight and Ron with an aching body from de-gnoming the garden and the areas surrounding his house as punishment

"You don't need to make such a face. You know how Jim is, he won't die without knowing what the big secret is." He tried to lighten up the mood but it backfired on him, Harry grew angrier before snapping at him

"What are you making fun of, huh? Jim might be dead for all we know and you dare to laugh at it! I don't care, I'm not losing my family again!" Harry started shooting spells furiously at the mirror, the force of the magic around him blasted Ron away and knocked the air out of his lungs when he hit the wall. He laid on the ground mentally beating himself up for being so insensitive. When the magic was drained from Harry he ran at the mirror and punched it until his knuckles bled.

When he realized anything he did would be useless, he fell to the ground and wept at the loss of his brother


	10. The other side of the mirror

Jim woke up suddenly on the ground. He tried to remember where he was, his head was throbbing. _'Oh right, the Black Manor, and there was the board game and… the mirror! I got pulled inside of it.'_

"I have to hurry up and go back to where Ron and Harry are." He said to himself

"You're not going back." Jim looked around and saw Harry sitting on a cube a few meters ahead of him while he inspected his wand

"Harry! You're alright! Where's Ron?" He made his way to Harry but rolled to the ground when his little brother shot a hex on him. "You're not Harry." He stated as he dusted off the knees of his pants

"I am not Harry Potter. Not anymore, at least."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I go by _Jim Potter_ now." The other boy said his own name with a sneer

"You're my reflection." The reflection nodded "So, I have to defeat you or something?"

"Do it if you want, but you won't win."

"Talk about cliché." Jim discreetly reached his wand pocket for said object, and his gut felt like it had frozen when he found it empty

"Are you looking for this?" The reflection said waving the wand in the air

"Give it to me."Jim said extending his hand for his wand

"Why would I do that?"

"I know me. I wouldn't fight a dirty fight."

" 'I know me' " The reflection mocked "You know yourself so much you didn't even recognize your own reflection!"

"Hey, that's not fair! Usually when people see someone who look like themselves the last thing they think is about their living reflection, especially if they have a twin."

"Twin?! That boy is not my twin, he is not my _brother_. He is a plague that wormed his way into my family."

"Don't talk about Harry like that!" Jim said as he ran to his reflection and punched him in the face. A matching bruise appeared on his face "OUCH!" he said holding his face. Boy, did he have a powerful punch

"Violence won't get you anywhere here." His reflection said with an infuriating smirk. Jim punched him on the gut and doubled over with the impact of his punch

"Then why did you try to hex me before?" he asked while on the ground

"Well, partly because I thought if you couldn't dodge it you were not worthy of living and mostly because I got angry at being confused with that _thing_." _'Okay, this prick is asking for it.'_ Jim thought as he kicked the reflection on the ribs. He inhaled sharply as he rubbed his sore bones "Are you done now?"

"What are you acting so tough about? I know firsthand now that my punches hurt."

"I'm a reflection, I don't feel pain. You're human, you feel pain. I have to match you and you have to match me so any bruises that I get" he said slapping himself on the face "you get too-"

"Ouch!" Jim exclaimed as a matching swelling appeared on his own face

"- and any bruises that you get" he said shooting a cutting hex that nicked Jim on the arm "I get them too." He said pointing to the blood dripping his arm

"You're crazy." Jim sneered

"If I am, then so are you." Jim managed to hold himself so he didn't attack his reflection, seeing as it wouldn't get him anywhere

"If you don't want us to fight, then what am I supposed to do?"

"I'm here to open up your eyes."

"You want me to listen to you?!"

"Ooh, at last you got something right." Jim took a few calming breaths and nodded

"Okay, fine. But first I want you to show me that Harry and Ron are both alright."

"Simple enough." The reflection said as he snapped his fingers. Two mirrors appeared in front of Jim, one showing Ron slumped on the ground and other showing Harry crying his lungs out over something

"What did you do to them!" Jim shouted as he held the neck of his reflection's shirt. The reflection only raised a brow

"I didn't do anything to them, I'm here with you." Jim held his glare a few more moments before letting go. He ran his hands though his hair

"I want to go back."

"You'll hear me out- "

"I don't care about what you have to say! Take me back!"

"I can't-"

"NOW!"

"You have to hear me first or you can't go back. Those are the rules of the game. The game you set Ron and yourself to do." Jim clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white and his nails dug in his palm and blood dripped to the ground

"You have three minutes until I beat you to the ground and get out of here myself." Jim was at the end of his patience, he wasn't even sure he could hold himself for so long

"Have a seat." The reflection pointed to two cubes on the side of the room and went to take his seat. Jim stood his ground and shook his head

"No."

"The game starts when we are both seated." He motioned to the cube in front of him and Jim reluctantly took a seat. Once he did so, a scale appeared in between them "The blue plate represents me and the red one represents you."

"So what's the game?"

"It's a battle of conviction, we have to show each other who's right. If the scale tips completely to my side, I win, if the scale tips completely to your side, you win. "

"Prepare to lose, then. I fight 'till I'm dead. What happens once I win?"

"If you win, you go back to Ron and the impostor, if I win I go back to the real world and get to finally get rid of the impostor."

"Don't call Harry that." Jim hissed between ground teeth

"Well then prove it to me that the impostor is not… well, an impostor."

"Who starts?"

"I do. We speak in turns, asking one question and answering one question." Jim nodded at the rules "So, Jim, what makes you believe the impostor is really who he says he is?"

"What, are you stupid? Dad and Dumbledore saw his memories, besides he's got no reason to pretend he's me. Why do you-"

"Uh, uh!" the reflection waggled a finger in front of Jim's face "You've already asked your question, and the answer to that question is no, I'm not stupid."

"That was a rhetorical question!"

"But still a question. And I don't recommend you keep interrupting me. If we interrupt the other we loose our next turn. Since you didn't know I will let it slide this time, but the next is for real. Okay?"

"Yes, and you've asked your question, now I'll ask mine."The reflection smirked at Jim "Why do you hate Harry so much?"

"It's obvious, he's a leech that's slowly killing my family. A good for nothing, weak, cowardly shrimp like him has no right to be a Potter. He's stolen my father and mother from me, stolen my room, my bed, my friend, my _name_. You seem to be the only one who hasn't realized the plague that boy is, but don't worry, I'll open your eyes until the end of the game. Why did you give that leech my name?"

"I'm older, I think dad's name's cool, and he looked like he needed it. What do you get from changing my mind?"

"I get to look at you from the mirror and not see this pathetic sight. What has you so attached to that thing?" Jim hesitated a bit before answering. This question hits too close to his heart and he didn't want to open up his heart like a girl in front of a guy he barely knew

"Harry's me, you know, yet he's already suffered so much. I got to live with my mom and dad, learn about our culture, have friends, food, a warm bed, nice clothes, while Harry had to live with those two devils. I don't know what happened with him on the past, and honestly, I'm too scared to know, because I think I'll never be able to look at him the same way. Harry flinches every time someone touches him, he gets nightmares every night, his back is a patchwork of scars from living with the Dursleys, he barely knows a thing about the wizard world, sometimes I catch him pinching himself on the arm to see if he's dreaming or not. I can talk the whole day about the reasons I have to protect Harry." Jim was surprised at how honest he was being with his answers "Why am I saying this much?" he wondered aloud

"You can't lie to yourself. Each and everything we both say is the pure, untainted, truth." Jim inwardly cursed himself for wasting his question again "You just told me the reasons you protect that creature, and not the reasons you love him. Maybe all the things I told you showed you there's nothing to love about that boy?" Jim clamped his hand over his mouth and shook his head "Come on, answer me." Jim trembled until he couldn't hold himself anymore

"Yes…" came out in a tiny whisper as a tear leaked from his eye. The scaled moved as the blue plate came down a bit and the red plate went up the same amount "I am jealous of Harry! I know he's lost his parents and all but that gives him no right to take my parents from me!" More tears came out of Jim's eyes and he struggled to keep his composure "I try to feel sorry for him and understand him, but sometimes I just get _so jealous_ and I think I am the worst monster of all, so I thought that if I was the one to protect him he would leave my mom and my dad alone. I'm the worst." Jim worked hard to reign back the control over his tears, and when he was only sniffling he lifted his head "Why are you doing this to me?" he asked as he saw the look of delight on his reflection's face

"This is all for your sake. You are not a monster, Jim. You are right, that boy is a menace, which is why I want to get us both rid of him. This world needs just one Harry Potter, which is also why you only changed the order in both of your names, so that once you got rid of him it would be easier to get your name back. Am I wrong?" With each word of the reflection, the scale tipped a little and by the question it would only take a little push for the reflection to win

"No." Jim had lost the fight in him and only succumbed to the reflection's wishes. The blue plate touched the ground and the red plate crumbled. The reflection stood up and patted Jim on the shoulder

"Don't worry, you won't be trapped in here. After I fix things back in the real world we'll go back to the way we were." Jim stood where he was and sobbed at his misery, cursing himself and promising he would never forgive himself if his reflection really killed Harry

* * *

"JIM!" Harry was tending to Ron's injury when he saw his brother coming out of the mirror. He had many wounds, his clothes were blood stained, his eyes red and slightly puffy, there was something different about him, but it was his brother, his Jim. He ran to him and trapped him in a hug, which even surprised him a little. Usually he got really wary about physical contact, but he knew Jim would never push him away

"Don't touch me, impostor." Jim said pushing him to the ground

"J-Jim? What's wrong?" This wasn't like Jim at all. The Jim Harry knew would never treat him like that

" _You_. I'll get rid of you now." He said pointing his wand to Harry's head. Harry just shut his eyes and waited for his end. The curse Jim shot, however, got pushed away by a shield Ron conjured

"Get away from him, Harry!" Ron shouted, but the boy was frozen in place. He just trembled, not knowing what was happening around him anymore. "This obviously isn't Jim! Come on!" Ron shot a stupefy spell at Jim and pulled Harry to his feet "Are you okay?" he didn't have time to really check over Harry, so he just took his being alive as a good sign and pushed Harry behind him when Jim stood up "I don't know what happened on that mirror, but this is an impostor."

"I'm not an impostor, Ron. I just opened up my eyes and saw who the true enemy is." He answered in an emotionless voice that sent shivers down Ron's spine. This wasn't the voice of a person who just tried to murder his brother, and it looked just so wrong on Jim "Get away from him, Ron. I don't want to hurt you." Jim took a step forward

"Over my dead body." Ron hissed

Jim sighed and ran a hand over his hair like he always does "Fine. _Confringo!_ " Jim shot a quick hex at Ron, but he cast a shield in front of him and Harry. The hex exploded upon contact with the shield, creating a thin smokescreen in front of them, shielding Jim from their vision. Ron pulled Harry closer to his side, but the boy pushed himself away, claiming he could take care of himself. Ron knew he wouldn't be of too much use because he exhausted his magic a few minutes before, but he still trusted his back to Harry. At least he would be on alert and wouldn't be so much of an easy target

"Harry, stay alert, the fake Jim is really trying to kill us." Ron whispered to his partner and Harry nodded. _'As if I hadn't noticed it.'_ Ron saw the glow of a spell being cast and deflected it and casted another stupefy spell at Jim "Jim, what's the meaning of this?! You'll get us killed for real!"

"That's the plan."

"Are you being controlled by something?!"

Jim let out a dry laughter "What makes you so sure that I'm fake?"

"Well, for starters, the Jim I know would never attack me, and he is a true family-type of guy. And even if he truly hated Harry, he wouldn't attack him when he didn't have his wand with him. Jim's not a coward."

"A coward?!" Jim got a furious look on his eye and charged at Ron. It took the ginger everything he had to keep the flurry of spells from hitting him and Harry. His dislocated shoulder wasn't making things easy for him

"You use your shields too!" he said to Harry

"I don't know how!"

"You will regret ever siding with that fake, Ronald Weasley! That thief should be gone from our lives! You will never steal anything from me again, you rat!"

"W-What did I steal from you?"

"Everything! My family, my friend, my house, my room, my bed, my name! You stole all I had! And I will take it back!" Jim had blasted away Harry's wand and threw Ron across the room. He stood in front of Harry, the tip of his wand on Harry's forehead "I won't miss this time."

"Jim! If you can hear me, come on out! I know that's not all you got! You fight 'till you're dead, right?!"

"Hey!" They heard a shout from behind and turned to see Jim pointing his wand to himself "Don't you hurt Harry!" he said and shot a hex at the fake Jim

* * *

" _J-Jim? What's wrong?"_ Jim heard from inside the mirror. He turned around to see what was happening outside the mirror. He saw his back and Harry was on the ground, he was shaking like a leaf and looked like he was about to cry. He saw Ron blasting a spell at him and couldn't see where himself was anymore. Ron was on Harry's side in an instant and Jim relaxed a bit at that. His breath got caught up in his throat when he saw the Confringo spell being cast, he knew the damage that spell could do when used right.

"Ha! Take that!" He cheered when Ron blasted his fake away from him

" _Jim's not a coward!"_ he blushed at hearing his best friend talking about him like that

"Ahh, why do you have to know me so well, Ron? But you're wrong, I _am_ a coward."

" _You fight 'till you're dead, right?!"_ Ron's words stuck close to his heart and Jim couldn't keep the tears he fought so hard to get back under control away anymore. He looked to the ground, right where the reflection was being shown and saw his wand. He picked it up and twirled it around his hand, figuring out his next move. He tried the charm undoing spell and, surprisingly, it worked. He stepped out of the mirror to see his brother one step from being killed

* * *

"Hey! Don't you hurt Harry!" He didn't have much time to think and cast one of the strongest hexes he knew. It didn't matter if he ended up dead because of it, all he thought was saving Harry. His fake turned around and got hit right in the middle of the chest. He waited for the matching injury, but it never came. He walked to where his reflection laid, and knelt in front of him

"So, you made up your mind?" his reflection asked him

"Yeah. I'm Harry's protector, I'm his big brother. I guess it's my job to love him, and having to share my family is a small price I'm now happy to pay."

"Just don't regret it." His reflection said as it disappeared

"I won't." Jim answered certainly

"What was all that about?" Ron asked as he stood up and leaned on the wall

"You guys are better off not knowing." Jim answered with his usual smirk

"Jim?" Harry asked from his position on the ground. Jim rushed to him and extended his hand for Harry to take. The boy quickly flinched before he saw it was not dangerous and took Jim's hand. The two brothers stood there awkwardly until Jim pulled Harry to a tight hug, Harry hesitated a while and slowly accepted the hug before hugging back

"Look, Harry, the things that fake said, forget about them. They're nothing now. Okay?" Harry nodded and smiled at Jim, who smiled back

The sound of the dice falling to the ground ruined the touching family moment. The three boys groaned before turning to it. Surprisingly, though, the words CLEARED were written on it, and the door to the next room opened.

"Do you think it's a trap?" Ron asked eyeing their way out

"Only one way to know." Jim said and the three adventurers walked through the door


End file.
